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DAY-DREAMS 



Day-Dreams 

BY 

/ 
W/^N. LOCKINGTON. 



'I had a dream, which was not all a dream,'''' Byron. 



-^-•••—^ 



SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., 

PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR. 

1880. 






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Copyright, 1880, by 
W. N. LOCKINGTON. 



Pacific Press, Oakland, Cal. 



■^c DEDIC^Wie]^. 3N- 




OOD literal folk, whose dreams are dry, 

And cold as stern reality, 

Had better not this book peruse, 

'Twas not intended for their use; 

But as I like to hear them prate 

My rhymes to them I dedicate, 

And will my fancies criticise 

To charitably save their eyes. 

I know no lovely sea-nymphs dwell 

In palaces beneath the waves; 

They do not sing "through sweet-toned shell, 

Nor swim about in coral caves, 

Nor glide the kraken's arms betwixt; 

That wine is seldom made from flowers, 

And with salt water would be mixed 

If it were quaffed in ocean bowers; 

Nay more, an awkward manatee 

May the original mermaid be. 

Yet still I know that thought can build 

A palace anywhere it pleases, 

And he in such constructions skilled. 

His mind from present worries eases. 

What though the Olympian gods are dead; 

And metaphysic feuds confuse us. 

The foolish things they did and said. 

Though mythic, may an hour amuse us. 

Ghost-songs and spirit-dreams that soar 

To viewless heights, for verse will do, 

But the belief in spirit-lore 

I leave, good literal folk, to you. 



— mm — 

After the Storm 76 

Amor Tyrannus 100 

Ant and the Ant-Eater 72 

Antony in Rome 91 

Autumn - - 62 

Ball, A 79 

Coral Wreath, A 48 

Day-Dream, A 117 

Dedication 5 

Dead Spring, A 107 

English Bltiial-Ground at Bilboa, The 78 

Ghost-Song, A 67 

Glen and Cliff 53 

Jim Dutton's Valentine '. 102 

LUCRECE 82 

Miner's Song - 105 

Moon-Struck 74 

My Goddess 95 

My Harold 60 



viii CONTENTS. 

Nature Musings 112 

Onward 109 

On the Swing 68 

Our Poor Humanity 56 

Politeness 65 

Pond within the Wood, The 50 

Pursuits 103 

Rain 71 

Real and the Ideal, The 115 

Rus IN Urbe 108 

Sad Bells 61 

San Francisco 45 

Sea-Nymph's Home, The 9 

Song, from the Spanish 101 

Sonnet on Sonnets, A 57 

Spirit Dreams 88 

Suicide 58 

Venus to Adonis 93 

Venus and Vulcan, Modern Version 25 

What's in a Creed? 98 

Wife's Lament, The 96 

Ye Visit of King Arthur to Master Tennyson.. 35 



¥pE 3E^-]^YMPK'3 pejaE. 




LL, all by myself, without friend, without foe, 
All, all alone! 
C I am weary of life, I am ready to go 
Into the depths the blue waves below; 
There is a world I would love to know, 
A world unknown. 

I long to dive into the durkling wave, 

And swift to go 

Where billows roll never, nor tempests rave, 

But soft flowing currents eternal lave 

The slow-forming ooze of the seaman's grave, 

Far, far below. 

Methought I heard softly a sea-nymph call 

Through sweet-toned shell: 

''Spring to me, lonely one, fear not at all, 

" With my arms outstretched I will break thy fall, 

" And I'll bear thee along to my gem-built^hall 

** Where the sea-nymphs dwell." 



10 TEE SEA-NYMPH'S HOME. 

"The ocean's deep secrets thine eyes shall see, 
"Its pearls, its gams; 

" Its treasures of wealth shall be known to thee, 
*' In pleasure for aye shalt thou dwell with me, 
"And girdled around shall our foreheads be 
"With diadems." 

*' A painless existence shall then be ours, 
^' Without a care; 

" In innocent sportings we'll pass the hours, 
" We'll sit in the shade of the coral bowers, 
" And with Ocean's many-leaved living flowers 
''I'll twine thy hair." 

Silvery sweet rose each gentle word 

Out of the sea; 

Sweet as the song of the mocking-bird. 

At even-tide in the forest heard, 

And a half-seen figure the surface stirred 

And drew towards me. 

I felt myself caught in a soft embrace, 

And fondly kissed. 

Pressed close to my own was a lovely face, 

And a sylph-like form of celestial grace 

Bore me along at a rapid pace, 

At her sweet list. 



THE SEA-NYMPirS HOME. 11 

As swift over ledges and cliffs we sped 

Our hasty flight, 

I saw the vast piles of unburied dead 

Lie half-covered up on their silty bed, 

And the grinning teeth of each fleshless head 

Gleamed ivory white. 

But these sights horrific passed quickly by 

As on we flew; 

With the eagle's swoop from his eyrie high. 

With the bullet's swiftness our course might vie, 

Or the lightning flash as it cleaves the sky 

Be likened to. 

I saw in the distance an object bright 

Which through the wave. 

As northern aurora on moonless night 

Sends far through the heavens its streams of light, 

Pierced with a brilliance of purest white. 

And guidance gave. 

The sea-nymph's palace, unknown to fame 
Mid mortals mean. 

Dawned wrapt in the glow of that silver flame; 
Man's highest conceptions are to it tame, 
And his tongue-tied language can never name 
What I have seen. 



12 THE SEA-NYMPH'S HOME, 

Wonders and wonders to sight out flew, 

As onward we 

Nearer and nearer that structure drew, 

Limned in the depths of the waters blue 

By th3 radiance that floated its windows through. 

So gloriously. 

She carried me up the emerald stair 
Through self-oped door. 

To a hall whose pillars were sapphires rare, 
Its ceiling of ojDal beyond compare. 
While marbles richer than earth can bear 
Composed the floor. 

Turquoise and onyx and beryl and jade 
And rubies bright, 
Jasper and garnets, the walls inlaid. 
In canning mosaic that well portrayed 
The fairest scenes that ever were made 
To please the sight. 

The windows were tissues of water-glass, 

Filmily thin, 

The light undiminished could through them pass, 

Their frames were of amber a solid mass, 

And curtains all woven of green sea-grass 

Huno; down within. 



THE SEA -N YMPII 'S HOME. 13 

One even diaphanous crystal sheet 
Was every door, 

While tables of pure frosted silver beat, 
With amethyst borders and sparry feet, 
And many a delicate adamant seat, 
Adorned the floor. 

The vaulted ceiling with met3or light 

Serenely shone; 

But she, she only absorbed my sight, 

I gazed upon her till she blushed outright, 

Yet drawn by the force of her beauty bright, 

I still gazed on. 

Her long flowing tresses of auburn hair 
Fell to her feet; 

Her ivory shoulders and arms were bare. 
As the goddess of beauty her form was fair, 
Magnetic her presence beyond compare. 
Her aspect sweet. 

The charms of her person what words can tell 

What eyes endure 

Of her silken lashas the magic spell? 

Or that of her bosom which rose and fell, 

Soft nestling place for young love to dwell 

Pillowed secure? 



14 THE SEA-NYMPH'S HOME. 

Her robe was a tissue of ocean spray 

Woven with art, 

Wavily floating adown alway, 

And ravishing sight with the coy display 

Of the perfect contour and graceful play 

Of every part. 

Whence that volumed burst of melodious sound, 

So sweet, so clear; 

That down from the ceiling, and up from the ground, 

And out of each pillar and arch around. 

Seemed floating, and held me all mute, spell bound, 

Its tones to hear? 

She lifted a finger, — the music hushed, 
'Twas silence all — 

The blood to my brain in a volume rushed, 
For sweeter sounds from her mouth outgushed, 
As she drew me to her with cheeks all flushed, 
A willing thrall. 

" No more shalt thou pore over ancient tome 

" In a world apart; 

" I've borne thee safe to this crystalline dome, 

" Of myself and my maidens the happy home, [roam, 

" With me thou shalt live, and with me thou shalt 

** Joy of my heart ! " 



TEE SEANYMPH'S HOME. 15 

" A seat at my table will I provide, 

" My love, for thee; 

" Together, together through life we'll bide, 

" I'll be to thee ever thy darling bride, 

'* Thy heart's deepest secrets thou may'st confide 

"Safely to me." 

** All thou desirest shall, love, be thine 

** A hundred-fold, 

" If only thou'lt swear to be ever mine, 

" Our inmost being in one to twine^ 

*' And ne'er for the maidens of earth to pine, 

**So hard and cold." 

"No prisoner thou; we will rove, we will range 

'* Free as the aii\ 

'* From ocean to ocean our home we'll change, 

** Thou shalt feast thine eyes on the beings strange 

" That graze in the meadows of my sea-grange 

** And need no care." 

" To the south, to the north, to the east, to the west, 

" Through every sea 

"We will roam together, and thy behest 

" Shall be my pleasure, if thou wilt rest 

" In trust and in truth on thy true love's breast 

"That pants for thee." 



16 THE SEA-NYMPH'S HOME. 

She coaxed, I j)romised — could mortal miss 

So fair a bride, 

Who sought for my heart's love in words like this? 

We poured out our souls in a long, long kiss 

And a heaven-sent speechless dream of bliss 

Our hearts allied. 

Save our mingled breathing, the air was still 

As still could be. 

But responsive at once to her nodded will, 

A tenderly murmurous musical thrill. 

Soft as the tinkling of tiny rill, 

Bose dreamily. 

By viewless minstrels the chords were Strang 

To heavenly strains; 

Notes never uttered by human tongue 

By seraph voices were sweetly sung. 

Till through my being the cadence rung 

In rapturous pains. 

Noiselessly trooped in a beauteous band, 

By two and two, 

Of maidens far fairer than those of the land, 

Each with a flagon or salver in hand, 

Round the shining table they took their stand 

In order due. 



THE SEA-NYMPH 'S HOME. V[ 

As youthfal as Hebe, as Dian chaste, 

Each Nereid beamed; 

With bracelet of coral each arm was graced, 

A garland of shells on each brow was placed. 

And a nacreous zone around each slender waist 

Lustrously gleamed. 

The graceful folds of their delicate dress. 
And a wealth of hair 

That over their shoulders, in many a tress 
Which the shelly cii'clet could not repress. 
Fell thickly, but heightened the loveliness 
Of their figures fair. 

With a flash of white arms that to sight betrayed 

New beauties still; 

In the twink of an eye Avas the table laid, 

With opaline vessels by Vulcan made, 

Casting around them a luscious shade, 

And chased with skill. 

Gold was too mean to be present there, 
Vile dross of earth ! 

The dishes were piled with celestial fare. 
Ambrosial odors were spread through the air, 
And the bsakers sparkled with nectar rare 
Of pric3less worth. 



IS THE SEA-NYMPH'S HOME. 

The purest quintessence of Eden's flowers 
That ever bloom, 

Wet with the kisses of nectarous showers, 
Under the shade of the myrtle bowers, 
Pressed by the feet of the rosy hours 
In soft half-gloom. 

With this Eden wine which makes Khine wine tame, 

My love and I 

Eat the daintiest species of ocean game, 

While dishes on dishes I cannot name. 

Whose exquisite flavor sets taste aflame, 

Our palates try. 

More glowingly vivid, more pure, more clear, 
Became the light 

Shot down like a flood from the lucent sphere, 
Glancing from column and pillar and pier. 
And gleaming in glory now there, now here, 
On jewels bright. 

I saw no more, for it seemed my brain 
No more could bear; 
I veiled my eyes, and to sleep was fain. 
And when I woke up to existence again, 
We floated along on the ocean's plain 
In the open air. 



THE SEA -NYMPH 'S HOME. 1^ 

'Twas the midnight hour of a summer night 

And far above 

Shone the Southern Cross with Orion bright; 

The Galaxy stretched out its line of white, 

And the moon looked down from the zenith's height. 

With eye of love. 

Far onward we drifted, that nymph and I 
In the cool moonshine; 
'Twas sweet reclined on the waves to lie, 
Oar faces upturned to the starry sky. 
Her arms twined round me so lovingly, 
Her hand in mine. 

Sweetly, so sweetly my sea-nymph sang 

Close to my ear; 

Over t'le ocean the music rang, 

The winds were stayed on the notes to hang, 

And out of the waters the dolphins sprang 

Those sounds to hear. 

Like light o'er the waters each golden tress 

Untrammeled flowed; 

There was nothing to shadow the loveliness 

Evolved so highly the vision to bless. 

Through the waves transparent — her only dress- 

Her figure glowed. 



20 THE SEA-NYMPH'S HOME. 

She was purer by far than a mortal bride, 
Slie knew not the sin 
Of hiding away, out of fashion and pride 
The beauty the pure would not dare to hide; 
While specious allurements each day are tried 
A glance to win. 

The first faint streakings of dawn appeared 

Low in the East, 

Broader and brighter they widened and neared, 

Till o'er the horizon the daylight peered, 

The sun in his glory himself upreared. 

And darkness ceased. 

Bathed in the light of a cloudless noon 

We lay at rest, 

'Mong the palm trees encircling a clear lagoon; 

But the breeze as it rose played a merry tune, 

And we knew it would grow to a fierce typhoon 

As day progressed. 

The breeze increased to a mighty blast, 
Bright streaks of red 

Burst from the clouds as they scurried past, 
The breakers high over the reef were cast, 
And a shattered hull without helm or mast 
To ruin sped. 



THE SEA -NYMPH 'S HOME. 21 

With a dreadful shock on that coral shore 

She cleft in twain — 

The raging winds for a moment bore 

Loud shrieks and groanings — Then ail was o'er, 

There was naught to be heard but the tempest's roar^ 

Those cries were vain. 

Away to the region of ice and snow 

Our course sped we; 

In the far-off land of the Esquimaux 

We seated ourselves on the edge of a floe, 

And marked how the natives their kajaks low 

O'er the ice-bound sea. 

Under the ice to the northern pole 

We swiftly bore; 

We frightened the seal in his winter hole, 

We rode on a whale towards an unknown goal, 

Till we reached the spot that no mortal soul 

Had reached before. 

Then in the Maelstrom ourselves we hurled, 
A vortex dread 

That rushed and roared and twisted and twirled, 
Bellowed and gurgled, and turned and curl?d. 
And whorl within whorl ever narrowing whirled 
By fury fed. 



22 THE SEA-NYM PR'S HOME. 

The eddying waters above us hissed — 

A liquid mound: 

With the speed of thought we were both abyssed, 

And using the forces we could not resist 

Stood safe at the bottom before I wist, 

On solid ground. 

Oh horror ! the slimy arms that flow 

Round my lovely bride ! 

With hook-girt suckers, a double row, 

They fasten upon her her arms below, 

While the cold cruel eyes of the monster glow, 

And his beak yawns wide. 

Some of his arms round my body slip, 

Some clasp my thighs; 

He draws us up close to his horrible lip. 

But she smiles as she grasps with an iron grip 

The kraken's neck, and the suckers slip, 

He gasps and dies. 

Then under the earth to the earthquake's seat 
On a liquid storm. 

We ride to where fire, earth, and water meet, 
The lava heaves boiling beneath our feet. 
The elements melt with the fervent heat, 
And seas roll warm. 



THE SEA NYMPH'S HOME. 23 

Around us, above us, the fire-waves rolled 
A boiling mass ! 

But she held me safe Avith a powerful hold, 
And cooled mj flesh with her breathings cold, 
As we hurried along in our transit bold 
Through that dread pass. 

The sun is low when we two emerge, 
And side by side 

Sit down to rest on the rocky verge 
Of a lonely isle, where a solemn dirge, 
Sung by the bass of the breaking surge, 
Booms far and wide. 

The sun set over the waters blue, 

A glorious sight ! 

The west filled up with a golden hue, 

High over the heavens the flame-tints flew, 

And ocean reflected the splendor anew 

In waves of light. 

When the gold, and the rose, and the purple were gone, 

We dived again. 

A tiny light in the distance shone. 

It grew to a sun as we darted on; 

'Twas the home of my loved one I looked upon, 

Her jewelled fane. 



24 THE SEA-NYMPH'S HOME. 

Again I swam in through that portal tall 
With gems bedecked, 
I made my home in that regal hall, 
Where music and beauty held soul in thrall 
And love made life seem a moment small 
By time unchecked. 

In that sea-nymph's mansion I still abide, 
For though on earth 
A lady fair may be close to my side, 
My spirit is true to my sea-born bride, 
And I have caresses for none beside 
Whate'er their worth. 



YE]5a3 m^ YUham. 




MODERN VERSION. 

^llr ^^ Gods, having lost all their old notoriety, 
Took a journey to London to study society; 
The goddesses figured the fastest of belles, 
The gods as the flower of Belgravian swells, 
The jeimesse doree, 
As our Gallic friends say — 
In circles distinguished they made a sensation, 
Were very much talked of throughout the whole nation, 
And didn't neglect to obtain information, 
While they gave the geologists points on creation. 
And to youth of both sexes proved quite a temptation; 
I trust it's a falsehood, but some people say. 
That the gods with the girls had it all their own way; 
And as for the goddesses, all understand 
That Olympian beauties were always well manned 
With devices allaring, 
Charms for securing, 



26 VENUS AND VULCAN. 

And tricks to perplex 
The masculine sex. 

They practised the arts, they enameled and painted, 

Went mad on aesthetics, in ecstasies fainted, 

And cheated like mortals, yet strove to look sainted; 

They studied the galop, the waltz, and the polka, 

Mastered the language of Webster and Walker, 

Puzzled their brains with our Christian theology, 

Mastered the details of Lyell's geology, 

And gulled the half-witted with lying astrology. 

Some studied acoustics, pitched into pneumatics, 

Hydraulics, mechanics, dynamics, and statics; 

To look like pale students some lived up in attics, 

But what spoiled their mirth 

Was, that living on earth. 

Like mortals they suffered from gout and rheumatics. 

They went into optics, read up electricity, 

Pored over the annals of city mendicity, 

Posted themselves in Ike Newton's astronomy, 

And grew so interested in social economy. 

That they almost forgot their Olympian felicity. 

Divinity's reason 

In one v/inter season 

Learned all about everything, so, with some tears, they 



VENUS AND VULCAN. 27 

Went oflf to the heaven where their proper spheres lay. 

With him in his chariot the mighty Jupiter 

Took some telegraph wire and a big gasometer. 

Queen Juno took store of silks, laces, and satins, 

Boots, stockings, elastic-web garters, and pattens, 

To keep her from wetting her feet 

In a cloud. 

But the proud 

Minerva took spectacles, pencils, and books, 

Some of our blue-stockings masculine looks, 

And dozens of pantalets neat. 

Venus, dressed in the rules of the purest aesthetics, 

Took up a ship load of the choicest cosmetics; 

While sage Esculapius took tons of emetics, 

Cathartics, emmenagogues, diaphoretics; 

And Vulcan, who meantime had practiced athletics, 

And was awfully tired of Cyclopean clamor. 

Walked off with a twenty-ton Nasmyth steam-hammer; 

Dian swapped off her bow for a Henry Martini; 

Apollo took Beethoven, Handel, Bellini, 

And all our composers, or rather their scores; 

Neptune, when he left our shores, 

Bore a Boyton diving-dress; 

Amphitrite bore a bell. 

Diving-bell of her contriving; 

Pluto, the grim god of hell. 



28 VENUS AND VULCAN. 

Bore away, on his Black Bess, 
Into Earth's deep bowels diving, 
Half a dozen dames of fashion 
To put Proserpine into a passion. 

But oh, what a sight were the regions celestial, 

When they all got up there with their baubles terrestrial ! 

Apollo constructed a grand concert hall 

With a well-arranged stage — 

It was soon all the rage 

¥or opera, comedy, carnival, ball. 

The singers were Nereids, the orchestra Fauns, 

Who instead of Pan's pipes played on cornets and horns; 

Apollo was leader, his chaste sister Phoebe, 

A good prima-donna, sang sweetest soprano, 

While she capered about in her short skirts and quiver, 

Or bathed with her nymphs in a painted stage river; 

A full-blown contralto was charming Miss Hebe; 

Eurydice played the celestial piano, 

And Orpheus improvised solos to suit. 

On the big bassoon or the reedy flute; 

Achilles was hired for the leading ienore, 

And always created some kind oi furore; 

While Hercules mighty was basso and clown, 

And whenever he wanted could bring the house down; 



VENUS AND VULCAN. 

And Stentor beatified blew tlie trombone 
"With more than stentorian deepness of tone. 

The Satyrs, the Nereids, tall Titans and Dryads, 
Flocked to the ball-room by couplets and triads, 
And with them the gods and the demigods blended, 
E'en Japiter, Juno, and Pallas attended 
The morning concerto, while Venus with all 
Her attendants were sure to be seen at the ball. 

One evening, as I must relate. 

The fell revenge of jealous hate 

Conducted to a dreadful fate. 

In presence of the Olympian swells, 

Titled god-beaux and goddess belles, 

An amorous pair — 

One brave, one fail-. 

'Tis a gala night, as you may see it is, 

For there are all the big-bug deities. 

That old wife-beater, 

The great Jupiter, 

Saturn and Rhea, Pluto, Mercury, Thetis, 

The gods of the Tamesis, Tiber, and Betis, 

Ceres, Proserpine, Isis, Osiris, 

Languishing Echo and gay-plumaged Iris, 

The graces and Venus, the Muses all nin#, 



so VENUS AND VULCAN. 

The gods of the ocean, of war and of wine. 

Smith Vulcan, in swallow tails, with a clean shirt, 

And a face which was washed just enough to show dirt, 

Came noiselessly in when the ball had begun, 

Prepared to have fun; 

And looking around for a" quiet retreat 

He luckily found an empty back seat. 

But what brought him their mid the gay and the y(.)iing, 

A lame brawny artisan, grimy and stiongl 

Why, what but his heartless coquette of a wife. 

Unfaithful and beauteous, the plague of his life; 

Who shone in heaven's ball-room the brightest of staib, 

Ran after Adonis and flirted with Mars? 

For as he that morning was blowing the bellows, he 

Was seized with a fit of most furious jealousy. 

'' This night in Pol's hall," 

Thouo-ht he, ''there's a ball, 

" My Venus, I know, will be sure to be there, 

" Exposing too much of that figure divine, 

" Which of right is all mine, 

" And I don't want to share 

''With that vile puppy Mars, whom I never can bear; 

" Por though he's so tall, 

" He is but a coward, in spite of the hair 

" That covers his chin — a precious fine pair, 

"They're always together, they'd better take care; 



VENUS AND VULCAN. 31 

"Shouldn't I just like to catch them, that's all? 

" A nice little net of the finest drawn steel 

" Lies in my breast pocket as snug as an eel; 

" I'll just come behind them 

" When billing I find them, 

" Throw this over them deftly, and though the folks stare, 

" Out of the ball-room the couple I'll bear, 

"Give them a black coat that ever will wear, 

" And then pitch them out neck, and crop through the air, 

" I'll get rid of them both," 

And he swore a big oath. 

From his seat he saw Venus careering along. 

The fairest and gayest of all the bright throng, 

And, it must be confessed, 

The most gauzily dressed; 

With Mars she was airily twisting and twirling, 

In long wavy tresses her fair hair all curling 

Fell down on her shoulders — 

She charmed all beholders 

Save Yulcan, who waited 

On this couple ill-fated 

His vengeance to wreak. 

In whispers they speak, 

Attentively bending 

Toward each other their faces, 



32 VENUS AND VULCAN. 

And momently blending 

Their breath, while her laces 

Loose fluttering, showed traces 

Of beauty's high places; 

They dream not disgrace is 

So near, as their paces 

Lovingly stray 

To an out of the way 

Seat near a grapery, hidden by drapery. 

Here her limbs tapery, tired by the capery 

Curves of the dance, 

Through the thin papery tissue of vapory, 

Loose flowery crapery. 

Temptingly glance. 

Her eyes full of meaning. 

On Mars she was leaning; 

When Yulcan sprang on them without any warning 

And caught them close captives beneath his steel awning! 

They struggled and fretted, 

But both were safe netted; 

On his broad back his big burden with, he 

Bounced out of the ball-room into his smithy. 

There he gripped them and stripped them. 

And whipped them, and dipped them 

Into a kettle of pitch ; ' 



VENUS AND VULCAN. 33 

It boiled and it sizzled, 

Their hair was all frizzled, 

You could n't tell t'other from which ! 

Had they been mortals; it sure would have killed them, 

But being immortals, it burned them and filled them, 

Head, body, and back, 

With beautiful black; 

Then in the steel sack 

To the verge of Olympus the couple he bore, 

And hurled them in fury on Africa's shore. 

With the shock of the fall, 

The net broke into small 

Fragments, and thanks to the bruising and shaking. 

Their passion was cured, but their bones were all aching. 

So they couldn't agree. 

But soon parted, and she 

Still proud of her charms, like the rest of her genus, 

Went the round of the world as the hottentot Venus; 

While Mars, in great distress 

At the loss of his mistress, 

The civilized world wandered o'er. 

He knew how to make money. 

For he could be funny 

As never was nigger before; 

He could bend his back in a graceful loop, 



34 VENUS AND VULCAN. 

He could jump witli ease through a paper hoop, 

From a high trapeze with head downward droop, 

Kide a bare-backed horse with an Indian whoop, 

Or do anything else to which he might stoop; 

But the way most money he managed to scoop, 

Was conducting around a crack minstrel troupe; 

He played on the banjo in sweetest of tones, 

And showed himself martial by battering " Bones/ 

He visited Paris, his rival of yore. 

The fairest of all that Queen Hecuba bore, 

Who once gave an apple to Venus so fair, 

When she was so poor she had "nothing to wear," 

And there he saw Venus, his Venus, once more, 

Still lovely, except for the black that she wore. 

She was faster than ever. 

And ten times as clever, 

For dark though she was, with her wit and her form, 

She trusted again to take Paris by storm. 

But Paris, as proud of his tint as his figure. 

Would have nothing whatever to do with a nigger; 

So the lovers Olympian, Venus and Mars, 

Came together again as variety stars; 

And though proud society would n't receive 'em, 

Their pockets were full, and the loss didn't grieve 'em. 



YE YpT eF KING ^i^^pai^ 

TO 



AN INGOLDSBY LEGEND. 




S from the wateiy abyss 
Arose fair Yenus, saucy miss, 
In naked majesty; 

So, from the chops of Britain's channel, 

Shaking herself like water-spaniel, 

Superfluous wet to free, 

Arose old Albion's guardian fairy, 

Upon a seal-skin cushion hairy 

Enthroned most royally. 

An osier wand was in her hand, 

Around her waist a linen band, 

A pretty sight was she. 

Over the sea she waved her cane, 

Turned round three times, and back again, 



36 THE VISIT OF KING ARTHUR. 

With awful gravity; 
Then, in a voice that shook the main, 
And sounded like a hurricane, 
She spake commandinglj. 

*' Ye champions of the table round, 

*' Through all the spacious earth renowned, 

^' From city and from battle ground, 

^' From ocean's caverned depths jDi'ofound, 

'' From cairn and barrow's grassy mound, 

^* Where'er your ashes may be found, 

*' Arise, and come to me ! 

** Come to me into Plymouth Sound, 

*' And follow whither I am bound, 

^' Dancing my seal-skin car around, 

'^ For, let it not your ears astound, 

'' There is a poet must be crowned 

''Who singeth famously." 

Then Launcelot rose from under ground, 

A mantle o'er his shoulders wound. 

And, glancing on her, darkly frowned. 

Yet not a word spake he; 

King Arthur strode to Eds^cumbe's brow 

And roared aloud, " What meanest thou 

'* By kicking up this jolly row 

''When I slept quietly; 



THE VISIT OF KING ARTHUR. 37 

'' When I got rid of Guinevere, 

** I thought nobody else would dare 

** Vex my tranquillity." 

Then Prince Geraint to life arose, 

Without a particle of clothes, 

And blew the dust from out his nose, 

And shook King Arthur's hand; 

And Galaor and Galahad, 

And Percival and Mordred bad. 

With all the forty chiefs who had 

Been knights of Aithur's band. 

Then loud again she raised her voice. 

Till Etna bellowed at the noise. 

And shot out cinders many a toise; 

*' Arise, fair shadow of Elaine, 

" By love of false Sir Launcelot slain, 

'' And thou, sweet Enid, who, though faint, 

" Drav'st before jealous Prince Geraint 

*' The horses through the wood; 

''Coarse, brutal man; meek, suffering saint, 

''Eor such a brute too good! 

"Rise, Arthur's princess, Guinevere, 

** So very foul, so very fair, 

'* But every way beyond compare! 



38 THE VISIT OF KING ARTHUR. 

" Rise Yivien, with the roguish eyes, 
'^ Where deepest fascination lies, 
" Perdition in a fair disguise, 
*' Decej^tive, cunning, fickle jade, 
" Bright model of a Cymrian maid ! 

** And from thy oaken tomb 

" Thy mighty shade exhume, 

*' Great Merlin, chief of all the wizard race; 

<' No more that trunk so old 

*'Thy spirit shall enfold; 

*' No more the winter's cold 

'^ Afflict thee, nor the bold 

*' Sun burn thee, cooped in such a narrow space; 

'' Shake off the encrusted mold, 

'' Thorough field, thorough fold, 

" Over mountain, over wold, 

'* Thy fearless passage hold, 

" And before this mighty concourse show thy face. 

" Dwellers in village, dwellers in bower, 

*' Tenants of cottage, tenants of tower, 

'' Bards highly favored with Poesy's dower, 

" Britain's fair rosebuds, chivalry's flower, 

" Ancestral shades of the noble Glendower, 

'* All who were living when Arthur held power, 



THE VISIT OF KING ARTHUR. 

" Come on the whirlwind, ride on the shower, 

*' O'er water and land like the lightning flash scour, 

" Resume the fair forms of your youth for an hour, 

"And swift let us go, 

'* Merrily O ! 

" To crown the new poet who sings of us so." 

And as she spake, there 

Stood Queen Guinevere, 

With Enid so fair, 

With lovesick Elaine, 

And all the Queen's train; 

While Vivien the cunning 

Came airily running. 

And they all cried out " stunning," 

As in ^^ pur is naturalibus^^ 

She did most cor-di-al-ly buss 

Old Merlin, who at her than verjuice looked sourer, 

As if he would very much like to devour her. 

Then rose the fairy's figure higher, 
Her eye-balls glowed with inward fire, 
And loud she shouted o'er the ocean, 
Putting the billows in commotion, 
*' If you have ever heard of any- 
** body of the name of Tenny- 



40 THE VISIT OF KING ARTHUR. 

*' son, who earns a pretty penny, 

*' By singing your achievements many, 

*' Then know that by his magic song, 

''Your fame is spread the lands among, 

'' Kesounds the Baltic's sides along, 

''Is echoed in Castilian tongue, 

" Admired by all the German throng, 

" Read by grave Turks and Cossacks strong, 

" And chanted, orange groves among, 

"Italian skies below; 

" And we, to thank him for his pains, 

" And crown him for his witching strains, 

" Will in a moment go." 

To the regions upper. 

From her watery supper, 

The moon rose brightly. 

As they sped on lightly, 

And landed 'ere long on the island of Vectis, 

Where her white chalky back-bone most stifFy erect is. 

The laureate poet, fdled with holy 

Contemplative melancholy. 

His eye-balls in wild frenzy rolling, 

His heart an " In Memoriam " tolling. 

Was pensively walking, composing the while, 



THE VISIT OF KING ARTHUR. 41 

On the caudal end of " that exquisite isle;" 

But though a famed bird for " his musical throat," 

Yet compass he could not a single note, 

And he thought it was very queer; 

Fruitless that night was each staunch endeavor, 

He could not "go on forever, ever," 

Composing poetry new and clever. 

And selling it very dear. 

So at last, half aloud, he began to mutter, 

" To the cold, gray stones he would like to utter, 

"The thoughts that arose in him." 

And his eyes with tears Avere dim. 

When o'er the horizon's brim, 

A wild white something that " leapt in glory " 

Over the channel's long foam-curls hoary, 

Came like a vision of monkish story. 

'Twas then, with sudden rapture fired, 

He sang aloud as one inspired: 

" What is it that o'er the sea 

" In this manner 

" Glides along as airily 

" As a banner] 

" I wonder whether it can be 

" Oriana; 

" Or she so widely famed throuo^h me 



42 THE VISIT OF KING ARTHUR. 

"Mariana; 

*' They come their darling bard to see, 

''I'll bet a tanner]" 

But as tliey approached him, his eyes were able 

To distinguish the knights of the circular table 

Of whom he had spun out a i3leasant fable. 

The lady of Shalot, the heroes of Camelot — 

He felt half afraid, for they seemed such a clammy lot ! 

But when they got near, 

He conquered his fear. 

For they sang a song round him, 

With laurel leaves crowned him, 

And quoted with praise 

His numberless lays. 

Old Father Merlin gave him his benison, 

And Arthur said merrily, '' Good Master Tennyson, 

'' I cannot express 

'' The thankfulness 

" I feel to you for those beauteous idyls, 

''And if I could be on 

" My throne at Caerleon, 

" I'd have them played on the royal fiddles, 

" To strains Parisian, 

" By my musician. 

*' Yet to my warning voice attend. 



THE VISIT OF KIXG ARTHUR. 43 

" With your deep thoughts more feeling blend, 

"And bring these idyls to an end, 

" In a grand epic of the merry time, 

'' When I was king in Britain's favored clime. 

Then from the water came 

Voices and spii^es of flame. 

Warming at Britain's name, 

Loud sang each knight and dame : 

'' He will obey, 

'' Let us away, 

" The morning breaketh, 't will soon be day, 

"Over the ocean caves, 

'' Over the channel's waves, 

''Back to our unknown graves, 

'' Comrades, we'll go; 

" Under the barrow's mound, 

" Upon the battle-ground, 

'' In the still depths profound 

''Lie we full low." 

With the sounds he had heard, and the sights he had seen, 
Like a corpse he lay stunned on the short grass green. 
Woke up in the morning and mused o'er the scene, 
Walked home o'er the downs with the thoaghtfulest mien, 
And wouldn't tell any one where he had been; 



44 THE VISIT OF KLVG ARTHUR 

Yet in blankest of verse 

Did tlie story rehearse, 

And sent it, with compliments, up to the Queen. 



It must not be supposed that the writer of the above is not an 
admirer of Tennyson; but his admiration was less in 1865, at 
which date this legend was written, than it is now. The poem 
narrowly escaped publication in England, but the would-be pub- 
lisher was afraid he should be " sat upon." ** Vectis," it may be 
as well to remark, was the Reman name for the Isle of Wight» 
which in shape somewhat resembles a turbot, and Tennyson 
formerly resided at J'resliM'ater, a village situated on the end 
which would represent the tail. A range of chalky hills runs 
throughout the entire length of the island, and from Freshwater 
to the Needles forms the coast line. The cliffs are from three to 
six hundred feet hi£;h, covered by a short sward. Tennyson was 
Said to be in the habit of composing while pacing up and down on 
these cliffs. The Queen's sea-side abode, Osborne, is about ten 
miles oflF. Tennyson now resides, I believe, in a wild part of 
Surrey. 






^m F^^NCt^CO. 



^ feir ii^O^ f^I^ on more hills than Rome, and with a 

"iftl belt 

^Wp" Of silver sunlit waters cinctured round, 

Sits the new goddess of the western world. 

Saxon and Teuton, Latin, Gaul, and Celt, 

Come from their far-off lands, and stay spell-bound, 

Till in the current of her life-blood hurled. 

They help to make her greater. Though renowned 

In this her early maidenhood, and crowned 

With all the riches of the golden State, 

Whose varied industries upon her wait. 

She has not yet to her full growth attained. 

To her full beauty bloomad, or har full grandeur gained. 

Queen of the vast Pacific ! To thy court 
Comes every traveler around the earth, 
For thou art seated on the world's highway. 
And art for every race and creed a port. 
Hot is thy blood, and in thy brain have birth 
Strange fantasies, which for a space hold sway 



46 SA2^^ FB A NCI SCO. 

Over thj being. Thou art sad and gay 

By rapid turns; tliy fancy versatile 

Changes as does thy weather, all the while; 

He whom thou lovest most one little year, 

May be thy scorn the next, the next for life may fear. 

Thou art a problem. Form and face are fair, 

Yet heterogeneous parts compose thy frame; 

Diversities of blood course in thy veins. 

And mingle in the offspring thou dost bear. 

By some strange chance thou hast a saintly name, 

Yet art not saintly. Fed with wrongful gains 

Is thy proud stomach; and the guilty stains 

Of vice are hidden by thy silken skirts. 

Passion in thee unchecked her power asserts; 

Strong-limbed, full-chested, ample-waisted, strong, 

Cruel as thou art fair, and wanton as thou'rt young. 

Short is the life of any mortal man; 
Yet thou, a goddess famed in many lands, 
Ai't younger than thy votaries. Thy blood 
Is older than thy veins; thy members than 
Thy body, for the laboring feet and hands 
That hold thee up, or with adornments stud 
Thy person, came o'er east or western flood 
And hate each other, and thy nerve and brain 



SAN FRANCISCO. 47 

Ai-e still too weak their rancor to restrain; 

But thought will grow, and there will come a day 

When thy rebellions limbs thy reason shall obey. 

And thou art beautiful ! — Thy noble Bay 

An inland sea, far-stretching north and south, 

Framed by the mountains, massed in many a chain, 

Is unsurpassed; and when, at close of day. 

The sunset glory gleams along its mouth 

And gilds thy hills and halls, we own thy reign 

Is mighty o'er us, and forgive the pain 

That we have suffered since that distant morn 

"When for thy sake the place where we were born 

We left for life — left all that we loved best 

To live for thee, proud mistress of the glowing West. 



n m^M w^E^fji. 



Mf^ 




HINK'ST thou the ocean is the seaman's grave? 

Oh no! 

There are fail' palaces beneath the wave 

Below 
The glance of human eye. 
The reefs are cleft with many a coral cave, 
Cool but not cold — the sunlit waters lie 
Among their arches — gentle currents sigh 
About them like soft breezes mid the leaves 
Of the tall poplars. Every little cove 
Is glancing, glistening, glowing — from the eaves 
Hang rainbow drops of beauty, and a grove 
Of ever-living trees with polyp flowers 
Conceals the entrance to those ocean bowers. 

Here live the sea-nymphs — maidens one and all. 

Pure from th' unspoken taint of fond desire 

That plagues Earth's daughters — daughters they of old 



A CORAL WREATH. 49 

Oceanus, and regal like their sii'e. 
Queenly jet gentle — imabaslied and bold, 
As all true modesty hast ever been, 
For shamefulness is the foul brood of sin. 

Here dwell the sea-nymphs, and along with them 
Those they have rescued from the ocean's wave; 
For ever, when the storm is high, they stem 
The heaving billows they cannot assuage, 
Catch in their soft arms all the drowning crew 
And bear them to those palaces below. 
Aye there to live a life glad, strange, and new. 
Forever new — while ages come and go, 
Nations and creeds grow old; 
The ocean wears awciy the rocky lands, 
Pyramids crumble, and the desert sands 
As sand theii* powder hold. 




TPE P0]^D ¥/If pi]^ fpE W00D. 



^ 



NE pleasant morn I wandered in a wood 



(^^^L Of mighty chestnuts, oak, and shady beech, 
^^sa^^ That interspersed at such spaced distance stood, 
That through leaf-vaulted naves the eye could reach 
In all directions, and the sunshine bright. 
Glinting on the thick-felted mossy floor, 
Made intricate mosaics, black and white. 
Move waveringly its verdant surface o'er; 
While thrush and sky-lark, singing out of sight. 
So charmed me that I wandered more and more. 
Until I stood where mortal ne'er had stood before. 

There weeping willows drooped around a pool, 

So clear that in its depths the eye could see 

The fish that darted through its waters cool. 

Or rested on the bottom lazily ; 

Pond-lilies, snowy white and heavenly blue. 

Ranunculus, and cyperus, and sedge. 

In trim-kept clumps about its expanse grew; 



THE POND WITHIN THE WOOD. 51 

Orchis and trilliam flaslied around its edge, 

With many a lily of resplendent hue; 

Fine-foliaged ferns o'erhung a rocky ledge, 

And vines and meadow-sweet composed a fragrant hedge. 

Under a willow, hidden by the leaves. 

And more by the thick carpeting of flowers 

That pillow-like my weary frame receives, 

I cast myself, and sleep until the hours 

Of day are well-nigh spent, and the low sun 

Throws lines of light, and lengthening lines of shade, 

Across that silent pool, the only one 

Within the wood — then waking, lo! a maid, 

Lovely as Helen when by Paris won. 

In flowing robe of softest silk arrayed, 

Bound by a jeweled zone, is to my sight displayed. 

Alone she stands and sings a melody. 
So sweetly sad of days when long ago 
She and her sisters of the silver sea. 
Received the homage men to beauty owe. 
Then she unties the snood that binds her hair. 
And lets it fall adown in sudden storm. 
Slips from the silken folds her shoulders fair. 
And bares her blush-tipped bosoms soft and warm ; 
And then unbuckles her gemmed zone from where 



52 THE POND WITHIN THE WOOD, 

It delicately binds her perfect form, 

And proudly onward moves without a shameful qualm. 

But when at length from her I lift my eyes, 

I see this wood-nymph is no more alone j 

Fair forms in every sunlit spot arise 

To claim the palm of beauty for their own. 

And all are clad in silk, of blue or green. 

And all unrobe my dazzled sight before. 

And stand as vestureless as beauty's queen 

When from her rivals she the ai)ple bore; 

And all are proudly limbed, and proud of mien, 

And all sing so entrancingly. — No more 

Can ears such music hear, or eyes such forms adore. 

Then to the cooling bosom of the lake 

They trust their full-blown wealth of female charms. 

And all that placid expanse is awake 

With glancing forms and glorious glowing arms; 

They glide amid the flowers — less fair than they, 

Then dive below with daring hardihood; 

They link in cii'cling groups with laughter gay, 

And speech so soft on themes so pure, so good; 

Then one by one, as sinks the orb of day. 

They dress and vanish. — Never if I could, 

Would I forget those nymphs, that pond within the wood. 



GIiEN M^ GhW^. 




AY, hast tliou seen, iii wooded dingle, 
The over-arching boughs commingle'? 
}> Hast watched the rillet as it flowed 
Purling o'er its pebbly road, 
While, all unseen, from neighboring tree, 
The thrush poured forth his melody? 
And if thou hast, hast thou not felt 
Thou would' st love to melt 
Into the being of the woods and rocks, 
And rippling waters cool; 

To bathe in the pure flood, and comb thy locks 
Over the mirror of a moveless pool. 
And think no more of the debasing life 
Of cities, with its littleness and strife] 
Hast thou'not longed to drink a draught, 
The deepest that was ever quaffed, 
Of Lethe's stream, and thus to bless 
Thy spirit'with forgetf illness 1 
Hast thou not felt that such a spot, 



GLEN AND CLIFF. 

All I'icli with colors, bright with flowers, 

Would be an Eden, if forgot 

Could be this feverish life of ours? 

What though we now no more revere 

The nymphs of tree and stream and mountain, 

Hast thou not felt a half- owned fear 

In such, a solitary glen, 

Unknowingly to draw too near 

The sacred jDrecincts of the fountain — 

Forbidden spot to mortal men — 

Where, hidden by the rainbow sheen 

That hangs around the falling v/ave, 

The goddess of the sylvan scene 

Her beauteous form may lave. 

Say, hast thou stood up a tall cliff half-way, 
By a lone light-house, when its line of light, 
A fitful ray, crossed the tempestuous night, 
And the vexed sea tossed a thick cloud of spray 
Above thy head, far up the rocky height 1 
Hast heard the billows break against the rock, 
And fall again into the wild abyss, 
With roar and rumble, rattle and loud hiss; 
Then rise again, and dash with desperate shock 
Their crested heads against their stony bounds. 
While the grand Babel of confused sounds 



GLEN AND CLIFF. 55 

Was swelled at intervals by tlie loud crack 

Of thunder j^eal, as though the very sky 

And solid earth itself had gone to rack, 

Riven into atoms'? Hast thou heard it die 

Into a fearful mutter 

Too dread for man to utter, 

Appalling in its chill intensity? 

And ere this has subsided, has thine eye 

Seen the tierce lightning flash, 

Over the welkin dash. 

Revealing at a glance the awful sky — 

The dreary waste of waters white with foam, 

Yet black as night, beneath an ebon dome*? 

Hast thou then dreamed of vessel driven, 

Of rudder reft, and reft of mast, 

Nearer and nearer, till at last 

Upon the rocks the hull was riven, 

And mingled with the general roar 

Came cries that ceased, and came no more? 

Yet, terrible as is the thought, 

Thy nerves to such a pitch are wrought, 

That thou dost long thyself to be 

Upon that ocean wild and free. 



m^ P0§^ priM^J^i'Fy. 




W blind we are ! 
How little we bear, 
How little we see, 
The griefs we should share ! 

How dumb we are! 
How unable to tell, 
How unable to speak, 
What we feel but too well ! 



How deaf we are ! 
How unable to hear 
The accents of anguish 
In those we call dear! 



How cruel we are ! 
When the heart is nigh broken, 
And seeks but the kind word 
That never is spoken ! 



OUR POOR HUMANITY. 57 

How kind we are! 

To him who is dead, 

Who knows not and cares not 

What of him is said ! 







U build a sonnet is a serious task; 
. The rhymes are so involved that fancy finds 

Her wings close-clipped. I doubt not there are 
minds 
That in a little garden love to bask 
Amid the flowers. I greater circuit ask; 
This artful rhyming my inventioivbinds, 
As round the deer the sinewy python winds, 
Or, happy thought! like hoops around a cask; 
'Tis my last rhyme ! give me liberty, 
Freedom to rove where'er it suits my will, 
High, low, right, left, by land, by sky, by sea; 
To soar, to swim, to float, to show my skill 
In useful labors, or, like honey-bee, 
To gather sweets on learning's rugged hill. 



paiciDE. 




^EEP water, cool river- 



Hard toiling, no bread — 
A thought and a shiver 

And life will have fled — 
There's none to deliver. 
The woman is dead ! 
Drag out the corpse by its streaming long hair; 
Hard-hearted crowd, gather round it and stare. 

Hard working, hard thinking 

Brought only disease; 
She felt hetself sinking, 
Life gave her no ease; 
So, out of it shrinking. 
She — think as you please. 
Drag out the corpse by its streaming long hair. 
You'll know where her soul is if your's should go there. 

" God is a spirit," 
So, preacher, is she. 



SUICIDE. 59 



And she may inherit 

Where you cannot be; 
As for her merit, 

She's mortal, Hke thee. 
Go, bury her body, no mourners, no hearse, 
She isn't a pauper, oh no ! she is worse. 

The cold earth will cover 

Forever from sight, 
The featui'es a lover 

Once viewed with delight. 
But God is above her. 
And he will do right. 
Fling her poor flesh in a suicide's grave — 
Moralize — ye who did nothing to save. 




jM p^^^eiiD. 




HE waves of ligiit fall o'er thy brow 

And sparkle in thine eye, 

The angel of our house art thou, 

Before thy innocence we bow, 

And kiss thy cheeks and cherry lips, 

And fondle those wee finger-tips 

That in our broad hands lie. 

That little, earnest, loving, cry. 

Those little eager feet 

That over every hindrance fly 

Whene'er thou see'st thy father nigh. 

Those hands upstretched toward his face, 

And- folding him, for his embrace. 

In an embrace more sweet. 

These are thy charms, and many more 
Than thought can think to say. 
For thou hast pretty ways in store. 
Brimful thou art and running o'er 



MY HAROLD. 61 

Witli plf^asant prattle, sweetest smiles, 
Fond baby fun and winsome wiles. 
From dawn to close of day. 

Whence came, my love, those pretty ways? 
Where go those feet so light? 
Wilt thou be happy 1 will thy days 
Be long or short, and will the haze 
That long hath settled o'er the truth. 
Clear off ere thou hast passed thy youth, 
And so thy life be bric^htl 



^^^ 




3^D BEIiIt^. 

^^rN'G, dong bell, thy sound doth tell 
Of marriage vows at al^ar spoken, 
Of married life, love, joy, or strife. 
Enduring till by death's touch broken. 

Of pall and bier, of sob and tear. 
Of earth to earth and dust to dust. 
Of long-lost friend, of life's near end, 
Of spirit freed and coffined crust. 




nmuwji. 



HE golden grain is gathered in, 

The gleaners, too, have left the fields; 

Before the ploughshare slowly yields 

The hardened soil. The leaves are thin 

Upon the willow trees that look 

Into the bosom of the brook. 

But withered down the stream they go^ 

And withered strew the ground below. 

The grapes upon the southern wall 

Are clad in garb of shining black; 

The swallows round the chimney stack 

Gather in crowds at nature's call, 

And on a sunny morn betimes 

Start ofi" in search of warmer climes. 

Intending to return again 

When spring shall end cold winter's reign. 



AUTUMN. 

The evening of eacli to-day 
Is longer than was yester-eve; 
The shadows lengthen till they leave 
The earth in shades of twilight gray, 
And lamps are lighted at the hoiir 
When erst the summer sun with power 
Scarcely diminished, set ablaze 
The western windows with his rays. 

The nights are colder than they were. 
Morning is misty, growing light 
Gives glimpses of a hoar-frost white 
Pearling the green blades everywhere; 
The streets have now a shady side 
Even at midday; the flood-ti'de 
Of sunlight leaves a wider beach 
Of shadow which it cannot reach. 

The nuts within their cups are brown. 
The walnuts fall at every shake, 
The chestnut's spiky covers break, 
The acorns all have fallen down; 
Beneath the beeches lies the mast. 
The hips and haws are ripening fast. 
And laden branches, bending low, 
With mellow pears and apples glow. 



64 A UTUMN. 

It is the autumn of the year, 
Increase is over, and decrease 
Until mid-winter will not cease; 
And many things that we held dear 
Must perish, but will leave behind 
Their precious seeds securely shrined, 
And these, when spring returns to bless 
The earth, will rise in loveliness. 




y^^^^l^WAY with all your cold conventionalities, 

. Your stiff, set phrases, and your formal bows; 
p^;^ The world is real, pray let us have realities, 
In the red wine of truth let us carouse. 
Your heart and mind — show us their true localities, 
Open them out as much as speech allows. 
And in its aid let every look and motion 
Unite in one grand irrepressive ocean. 

Eeiined, polite! Oh, yes; and cold and cruel; 

From such refinement Heaven set me free. 

Better to have a quarrel, fight a duel. 

Or live a hermit, than refined to be 

To such a pitch ! The natural quick fuel 

Of love and hatred given to you and me 

To work with, is consumed, and pray what hinders 

You from being trampled on like other cinders? 

I almost think they must be ape-descended 
Who live this leaden immobility; 



66 POLITENESS. 

Yet is its citadel so well defended 

By ramparts of respectability, 

That to attack it may seem madness, blended 

With more or less of imbecility; 

Yet every little helps, — a cannonade 

Must be attempted, ere a breach be made. 

Come out, chained spirits ! Underneath the ashes 
The hidden fire of nature still is burning 
In many a heart, and now and then it dashes 
Out in a lava stream, in haste o'erturning 
The icy walls. Instead of these fell splashes. 
Dangerous to all — all human barriers spurning, 
Give us a tide of warmth, congenial, steady ; 
A stream of sympathy, at hand and ready. 



n Gpep 30NS. 




HE spirits are coming! 

Look! look! look! 

See them gather in the gloom 

By the tomb 

Of the murderer who took 

The life of his father! 

See how they gather 

In a cloud all black and high 

Marching onward through the sky ! 

Listen to the thunder's mutter ! 

'Tis the voicd the spirits utter! 

'Tis a curse ! 

Ghosts of wives by husbands mangled. 

Girls with reputations strangled, 

Husbands poisoned by their wives, 

Murdered slowly all their lives; 

Parents who have pined and perished 

Through the children they have cherished; 

Children done to death by slices. 

They have come to take revenge — 

Take a bitter, fell revenge — 

Ere the ancient earth expires. 

Hear them curse ! 



0N ¥PE ^WIN6. 




HALL I swing you, little one? 

To and fro, 

To and fro; 

Don't you think tliat this is fun? 

Down so low and up so high. 

Like a little bird you fly. 

Through the air with such a rash. 

Swiftly so ! 

Now you go ! 

From your face the ringlets brush; 

How you laugh, my little one ! 

Don't you think that this is fun? 

Hold the ropes, or else you'll drop- 

Hui*t your head — 

Tears you'll shed. 

Darling, do you want to stop? 

"Wait a bit ! Thrown out you'll be 

If you stop too suddenly. 



ON THE SWING. 6ft 

Now you think you'll swing yourself? 

You may try — 

Bless me ! why 

You're a cunning little elf; 

You can climb, and you can swing. 

You are learning everything. 

When you're bigger, little one, 

You will play 

Many a way. 

But you can't have better fun; 

Bat and ball, and top, and kite, 

Cannot give you more delight. 

You get older every day. 

And to school. 

That's the rule. 

You must go, yet still you'll play; 

You shall swim and you shall ride, 

And have lots of fun beside. 

It is good to learn to read 

And to spell — 

Very well. 

But rosy cheeks are what j^ou need; 

Little brains will surely fail, 

If those pretty cheeks grow pale. 



70 



ON THE SWING. 



So I'll swing you, little one; 

To and fro 

You shall go; 

Now's the time to have some fun, 

You shall work some other day, 

But there's always time for play. 




J Mt^ cataract sheets from the tempest-clouds drift- 




_,JO'er field and o'er village the rain-deluge falls, 
The wind mid the tree-tops is swirling and shifting 
In gusty recurrence of westerly squalls; 
The atmosphere, tilled with dun vapory masses, 
Conceals its broad dome of ccerulean blue, 
Yet the high-swelling downs, as the cloud over-passes. 
Gleam with patches of sunshine all golden of hue. 
No sounds can be heard in the street of the village. 
But the plash of the rain and the sough of the wind, 
The hind for his home hath forsaken his tillage, 
And in stall and in stable his stock is confined. 
The children, when tired of their frolicsome clatter, 
Look longingly out through the dewed window-pane. 
Or under an outhouse enjoy the loud patter 
Played on the slate roof by the fast-falling rain. 

Under shelter from a rain-storm, at the village of Tarring, 
Sussex, England, after a long tramp over the South Downs, these 
lines were written. 



¥PE M^ ^ND TPE ^]\IJr-E^TE^. 




H the i^roudest fancies swelling 
As he looked forth from his dwelling, 
Spake a white ant in his glory, 
'' What a clever creature I ! 
" Underneath this solid dome, 
" Rising story above story 
" Till it reaches to the sky, 
" I securely live at home. 
" Such a home, I helped to make it, 
" Storm and tempest cannot shake it, 
" Kain can never come inside, 
" Scorching sun-beams harder bake it, 
" Man has not the strength to break it, 
" I would bite him if he tried. 
" Birds and beasts cannot molest us, 
" Creeping things dare not infest us; 
" We are many, we are strong, 
" We have lived together long, 
" And have higher civilization 
" Reached than any other nation, 
'' How I pity that poor fly. 



THE ANT AND THE ANT-EATER. 73 

'' Doomed so helplessly to dangle 
" In the spider's netted tangle; 
'' Yet the sight of his sore trouble 
'' Makes my sense of safety double. 
" How superior am I 
*' To that silly little fly! 
** Stupid blunderer, good for naught, 
"Perishing for want of thought." 
Scarcely had the insect spoken 
When the solid dome was broken, 
And a long and slender tongue, 
Though he vainly tried eluding, 
Through the ample breach protruding, 
Caught the " hero of our song," 
Caught full half the termite nation. 
Spite of their civilization. 
Helpless went they to their tomb. 
In the stomach — lots of room — 
Of a hairy Great Ant-eater; 
Could his pride have ending meeter? 
Men, take warning from his doom ! 




iUEEN of tlie night, thou ever glorious Phoebe ! 
^Thy gentle rule each happy lover knows, 
Pure as the nectar poured for Jove by Hebe 
Is the soft light that from thy crescent flows, 
O'er tree, path, flood, and mountain sublunary, 
Tinging each object with a silvery glow. 
While cooling breezes, midnight's garments airy. 
Among the dimly lighted foliage blow. 

Oft have I watched thee rise from out the main, 

When heaven's blue arch, with countless stars gemmed 

o'er, 
By the smooth waves was echoed back again. 
And hushed in silence lay both sea and shore. 
The loveliest sunset mortal ever saw 
Hath not the power to make the senses feel 
So deep a sense of wonderment and awe 
As thy bright rising. At the sight I kneel 
In worship, like the men of olden time. 
Over the ocean poured, thy cool bright beam 
Paves through its trackless breadth a path sublime, 
Which onward in an ever-widening stream 



MOONSTRUCK. 75 

Of liquid gold, continues till it melts 
In lines of beauty on the pebbly beach, 
Leaving between its ripples narrow belts 
Which right and left with lessening glory reach. 

Sacred thou seemest, wdien thy silver light. 
Piercing through watery vapor, sheds a faint 
Broad ring of glory round thee, paly bright. 
Much like the nimbus artists love to painb 
Round the sweet face of some Madonna fair, 
Or that of some ecstatic martyred saint, 
Goddess of chastity — Diana pure, 
Phoebe, or Cynthia — by what name soe'er 
The ancients worshiped thee, the loveliest sure 
Wert thou among the proud Olympian powers; 
No stain of blood attaches to thy name, 
No carnal rite defiles thy hallowed bowers. 
Thy character* alone is free from blame. 
No taint of evil mars thy pristine glory, 
In maiden purity thy beams shine on. 
And though 'tis fabled in a pretty story. 
That thou did'st stoop to kiss Endymion, 
'Twas such a kiss a guardian spirit gives 
To some most fondly cherished, lovely youth, 
A kiss in which no germ of evil lives, 
A kiss of purity and sacred truth. 



nBW^ ¥PE gTO^M. 




USHED was the raging tumult of the storm- 



:The wind blew softly as an infant's breath. 

Upon the wreck-strewn beach a lovely form 
Slept tranquilly the dreamless sleep of death; 
The waves that erst with such dread fury raved, 
Softly repentant now her ankles laved. 

Her cheek was pillowed on her snow-white arm; 
Her face was such as Raphael loved to paint, 
Instinct with that pure beatific charm 
With which he drew the features of a saint. 
Her golden hair upon the sands outspread 
Seemed a bright glory circling round her head. 

The full-orbed moon majestic shone above. 

And o'er her face a hallowed beauty shed. 

And all the twinkling stars looked down in love 

Upon the white-robed figure of the dead ; 

The blue infinity of cloudless sky 

Seemed a broad pathway to fair worlds on high. 



AFTER THE STORM. 77 

So fail' a corpse mine eyes had never viewed; 

Though but the immortal soul's deserted shell, 

Its look of heavenly beatitude 

Over my senses spread a potent spell, 

And rapt me in a vision of delight 

With her pure spirit to those realms of light. 

I saw her traverse the ethereal space 

That parts celestial from terrestrial things; 

Seraphic bliss suffused her beauteous face, 

With heaven's own radiance gleamed her angel wings, 

Until she passed the eternal portals through. 

And disappeared forever from my view. 





TPE El^QIilgp Ba^I^L Gi^eapiD "^^ 
BILB^©. 



|Y the side of the river they lie, 
Just out of the wash of the waves; 
<The wind as it comes from the sea whistles highs 
Around my dead countrymen's graves. 

A dry spot in the midst of a fen 

Is the Protestant burial ground, 

In sight, yet far distant from dwellings of men, 

With the swamp and the river around. 

A cluster of stunted oak-trees 

Serve in lieu of a belfry full well, 

And the knell that is sung in their leaves by the breeze^ 

Is the Protestant passing-bell. 

By the side of the river they lie, 

The grass waveth over their graves. 

The sedges and reeds in the chill breezes sigh, 

And sad is the sough of the waves. 



n B^iiii. 



A FRAGMENT. 




ITHIN a brilliantly illumined hall 
Assembled, danced a gay and festive crowd, 
■Quick glanced the shadows on the frescoed wall, 

As strains of merry minstrelsy rang loud; 

For 'twas the evening of the county ball, 

And there were many a peer and squire as proud. 

Wealth, rank, and fashion sent their bravest there, 

Together with the fairest of their fair. 

On, on they sped through many a giddy whirl 

Of waltz voluptuous, figure intricate 

Of prim <iuadrille, or rushing hurried swiil 

Of galop, or through country-dance sedate; 

Radiant with pleasure every blooming girl, 

Each youth attentioe to his charming mate. 

Till night, unknown to them, had quite withdrawn 

Her mantle, and the dav began to dawn. 



80 A BALL. 

And truly 'twas a pleasant sight to see 
So many happy faces in a room, 
A joy that cannot once too often be 
To cheer the darkness on this side the tomb; 
Mirth somehow is more unrestrained and free 
Amid the gas lights than amid the gloom, 
And every saint and sinner knows that dancing 
Is to all youthful people soul-entrancing. 

I cannot tell how much champagne, or stuff 

That passes for it, by the girls was taken; 

Some seemed as though they ne'er could have enough, 

Their nerves were so with the excitement shaken; 

But whether they had had their quantum-suff" 

Or not, the bottles were at length forsaken, 

And all went home, to sleep, at least to bed — 

For sleep was banished by an aching head. 

An aching head — and dreams. Around them floating. 
The girls saw fine young men, the men fair maids. 
Who free from every fashionable coating, 
Were to each other's passion mutual aids, 
In fancy all of them were fondly doating 
On human charms of various tyjjes and shades; 
And some, 'tis said — oh that such things can be ! 
Instead of dreams enjoyed reality. 



A BALL. 81 

Such things will be. The moth that seeks the candle 

"Will soon be burned. It cannot be denied 

When girls permit young men their forms to handle, 

In waltz, or galojD, or voluptuous glide, 

That 'tis a little step to let them dandle 

Them still more lovingly from sight aside, 

And though this sometimes paves the way to marriage, 

The journey often pi'oves a sad miscarriage. 




c§itD^f ipiag m ma^Emn. 




RESH from the silvery surface of the sea 
Kose Cytherea, the fairest of the fair; 
Her long dark hair flowed down bewitchingly 
O'er back, and bust, and breast, and everywhere 
With waves of beauty clothed her beauties rare, 
Clothed them ^vithout concealment, for they showed 
Themselves perpetually; now liere, now there, 
Her faultless form magnificently glowed 
Through the soft floating curtains nature had besto wed- 
Below the golden claspings of her zone 
Her silken tresses airily descended, 
Save when aside by sea-borne breezes blown, 
Till underneath her knees they thinned and ended, 
Ruddy and snowy white were sweetly blended 
O'er all her person to a delicate hue, 
And in her ocean course she was attended 
By little cupids, that around her flew. 
While twelve fair naked nymphs her pearly chariot drew. 

Such, and so beautiful, my love, art thou. 
When from the bath thou com est, fresh and fair, 



COLLATINUS TO LUCRETIA. 83 

Clothed only witli thy loveliness, and now 

And then with tresses loose of waving hair, 

Whioh freely fall about thy shoulders bare 

And mantle o'er thy bosom; I adore 

Thee, love, so much, that boldly I declare 

Thou need'st not even this light covering o'er 

The untold wealth of charms thy form doth hold in store. 

Thy blushing cheeks are more than velvet soft, 

Thine eyes, bright sentinels, watch o'er each grace 

That beams beneath them — thy sweet lips, how oft 

My own have met them, as with fond embrace 

I pressed thee to my bosom — thy fair face 

Is matched mth neck and bust and bosom meet 

To be of all the loves the nesting-place; 

To kneel and kiss those pretty little feet 

Would to Olympian Jove be pleasure passing sweet. 

Thou need'st no raiment — custom, law, and clime 

Prescribe it to thee, and thou must obey 

Laws upon woman binding since the time 

When she was tempted first to go astray; 

Yet if thou had'st been, from thy natal day, 

As innocent of clothing as in heart 

And mind thou hast been, I would dare to say 

That though in form of Venus counterpart, 

In soul as Dian chaste thou had'st been, as thou art. 



pig EI^IENDg. 




AY, you may vaunt your wives, poor bloodless 



things ! 
j^.^^'You should see mine, a Venus, face and form, 
Framed like a goddess for the visitings 
Of some high god ; to her own husband warm. 
Yet chaste as Dian; fit to brave the storm 
Of love's most ardent darts without a fear 
Or thought of evil. 'Tis without a qualm 
That I invite you all to ride with me 
This night to view her charms, her industry to see 

I'll wage this horse you'll own her beautiful 
Beyond the wife of any one of you, 
I'll wage my life you'll find her dutiful. 
Modest, industrious, gentle, loving, true. 
By heaven I know you all will love her too ! 
I do not trust you, lords, but trust my fair 
Lucrece beyond a doubt. Come then and woo 
In vain, for she is chaste beyond compare, 
And envy me the bliss that you may never share. 



mhhmim^ ^0 TPE B0DY m MCJRECE. 




HAT hast thou done, Liicrece] I lived for thee, 
y^^ My soul met thine, thy thoughts and mine were 
one. 

We were one life, one soal, one entity, 
And should have ended life as Ave begun — 
Together. My Lucrece, what hast thou done? 
Had'st thou but lived to love me, thy disgrace 
More than I loved thee since thy love I won 
Had made me love thee; and in Sextus base 
Thy poiguard should have found a fitting resting-place. 

Yet Sextus did not kill thee, for he left 

Thee life, and love, and beauty, and I would 

Rather than see thee thus of life bereft — 

Kather than see that bosom bathed in blood — 

Yea, I would rather (I believe I would 

E'en this do for thee) give those charms of thine 

To him for life. Thou wert in heart as o-ood. 

Thou wert in spirit still as wholly mine 

Ere thy rash act, as ere he wrought his base design. 



COL LATIN us TO THE BODY OF LUCHECE. 

Thou lov'st me still, tliou knew'.st I would forgive, 
Had nothing to forgive thee. Thy good name 
I would have fought for — S'extus shall not live; 
Thine own act killed thee — oh, mistaken shame, 
To die from love tliat thou might'st live in fame! 
For one short space on thy warm breast to lie 
My life were nothing. Yet I dare not blame. 
Swift hast thou chosen, but not well, to die; 
No daughter Spurius now, no lovely wife have I. 



BRa^^ag TO Gdhhn^im^ md pig friend^. 




g^E witness now, ye gods, that from this liour 
^I pledge myself to avenge the dead Lucrece, 
'I swear in ruin to bring down the power 
Of Tarqnin's house, or by my own decease 
To seal my efforts. Rome shall yet have peace, 
Our wives be safe, and our own selves be free. 
Cease tears and lamentations, Romans, cease ! 
Swear on this blade, this reeking blade, with me, 
To give your lives for Rome, for home, for liberty. 

Brmg out her body to the public place. 
Where all may see the face by all admired, 
That so the cowed, inconstant poj)ulace 
May by the sight with anger be inspired. 
And by my words with boundless fury fired. 
Rape, murder, treason, poison, and the knife, 
By these we know the Tarquins. Rome is tired 
Of harboring monsters. Thus the outraged wife. 
Shall by her death raise Rome up to a newer life. 



gPIl^IT DI^E/IM^. 




PIKIT, that Cometh at this midnight hour, 
Filling the air with presence indistinct — 
''(^ A presence as of love cojnbined with power, 
And both with rarest, brightest Beauty linked — 
Tell me, what art thou? 

" Thou did'st desire to see me — T am she 
Thou hast imagined, but hast never seen; 
Thy spirit-longings have been known to me. 
Thy secret thoaghts to me have open been — 

Dost not thou know me?" 

I do, before mine eyes thy figure grows 
Clearer and clearer. Thy calm orbs of blue 
Look into mine. Love in their glances glows. 
And thought, enthroned behind them, gazes through- 
Art thou my loved one? 

'* I am — upon this earth we have not met. 
Nor may we meet except at midnight hour, 
When time, and space, and circumstance, which let 
Our bodies, o'er our spirits have lost power — 

Thus may we meet, love." 



SPIRIT DREAMS. 89 

I see tliee, loved one. Thoti art very fair; 
Thy unsliamed soul in godlike mode is clad 
With seeming bodily beauty — may I dare 
Kiss thy loved lipsl One kiss would make me glad — 
Long-loved! O grant it! 

'' I cannot: kisses are but things of earth; 
Eise thou above them — leave thy form of clay; 
Out of thy body let thy soul have birth, 
Mingle its life with mine, and speed away 

With me to heaven." 



I come, I come ! I feel my spirit burst 
Out of my body into nobler life, 
And, breathing independent, take the first 
Plunge in eternity. Thou more than wife — 

Tell me — where are we? 

"Above the world, afar, amid the stars. 
Where Saturn's baleful influence never beams. 
Where sheathed forever is the sword of Mars, 
And no ignoble ray from Yenus streams. 
United in spirit." 



90 SPIRIT DREAMS. 

Now first I know the bliss of perfect love ; 
All confidence, no sin, no doubt, no fear, 
Ecstatic earthly passion far above. 
Sweet ! every midnight will I meet thee here — 
But see! morn dawneth! 



*'Yes, morning dawneth. With thy spirit-eyes 
Look on the earth. See'st thou thy body — mine — 
Both wrapped in. peaceful slumber. Twixt them lies 
Half the broad earth, yet still we here combine 
Our loving spirits." 

And when we die, or rather, when we live. 
This mortal life will seem a spider line, 
A microscopic moment, which will give 
Us i:)leasure to examine. Memory's shrine 
Will hold no sorrow. 



"Farewell, my love, our souls may meet again 
Another midnight; but they may not leave 
Their bodies save in slumber. A short pain 
Deadened by action, which forbids to grieve, 
And then — united ! " 



mwQw Ifi ^©jaE. 







CTAVIA, sister of Octavius, cold 

As is thy brother, thou'rt my wife, my own- 
)' 3^^ Pledge of our friendship. To thee I am sold, 

Bound down by law to love thee — thee alone; 
And when I view the beauties manifold 
Set free at the unclasping of thy zone, 
I almost wonder that I love thee not, 
And almost wish the past could be forgot. 

I kiss thy pure lips and thy haughty brow. 
And think of Cleopatra's rapturous kiss; 

I clasp thee in my arms, yet even now 
Am dreaming of past ecstacies of bliss 

With my grand queen. True love to thee I vow; 
I'll be thy slave, thy wedded slave. For this 

I left the passionate love, the fierce embrace 

Of the last goddess of a god-like race. 

Cleopatra ! I am false to thee 

Only in seeming. All my pulses beat 



92 ANTONY IN ROME. 

In harmony witli thine. Thou art to me 
More than to Eros Psyche. We must meet 

Again, my loved one — slave I cannot be; 
'Tis death. I will arise, and at thy feet. 

Free worshiper, drink life from thy full veins — 

Love's boundless life, life's most delicious pains. 

This pale and starveling Roman beauty's charms 
To thine are but as water to rich wine. 

Thy Juno form and velvet swarthy arms 

Were made for warrior's love — for love like mine; 

Love like a tempest running through the palms. 
Through pylon, court, and hall, to inmost'shrine, 

Followed by dreamy calms of speechless bliss, 

Life running out in one impassioned kiss. 

Let Caesar keep his sister. What care I 

For him or her, ev'n though she be my wife? 

Egypt again shall have her Antony — 
And he his Cleopatra, love, and life. 

Unloved let Caesar and his sister die — 
Duty with passion holds but feeble strife. 

Swift, Cleopatra, I am coming home. 

Thy heart my empire, I can spare proud Rome. 



YE]5a3 w ^De^ig. 




OOK at me, am I not beautiful? 
Did'st evei' see beauty like mine? 
Bow down adoring and dutiful, 
Worship my figure divine. 



You look at my feet so admiringly- 
Are they not fair little feef? 
Lift up your glances aspiringly 
To charms for a lover more sweet. 



Look on my neck's taper slender ness. 
Gaze on my breasts in their bloom. 
And on my eyes liquid tenderness 
Read thy unspeakable doom. 

Look at my tresses luxuriant. 
Look on my limbs in their pride, — 
Shame would bat prove itself prurient 
My perfect proportions to hide. 



94 VENUS TO ADONIS. 

No part of my figure defective is, 
Wliy should I covering wear] 
Dress from the weather protective is, 
Here there's no weather but fair. 

Away with thy bashful timidity, 
Come, put thine arm round my waist, 
Free from coquettish frigidity 
T ofier my lips to thy taste. 

Nearer, Adon, thou can'st never Vje 
Cold to a goddess's charms ! 
Closer Adon, I would ever be 
Thus folded close in thine arms. 




fJY 60DDEgp. 




fairy hath a face like thine, 
No goddess half so fail', 
The graces must in one combine 
To match thy beanty rare; 
Not Yenus, rising from the sea, 
Could with thy form compare; 
Nor Eve, in all her majesty, 
To rival thee would dare. 
Only the poet's own ideal 
Can equal thee — and thou art real. 

Even to hear thy voice is bliss, 

But oh, to call thee mine, 

Live in the heaven of thy kiss, 

And drink thy smiles, like wine ! 

Ye gods, can ye but grant me this, 

I'll call this earth 'divine, 

Since one so grand, so matchless miss 

Doth mid its mortals shine; 

I'll swear the beauties heaven can show 

Lie far thy sovereign charms below. 



THE WIEE'g Ii^ME]51. 




AN and wife 

May mix their mortal lives, yet be 
Far from each other as the icy sea 
Is from the fields of Araby the blest ! 
The inner life, 

Hid from all human sight, rolls free 
Its dark and fathomless immensity 
Within the hollow caverns of the breast. 

Only the heart 

Its own grief comprehends, and aches 

With thii'st no healing water slakes, 

For the sweet balm of love to make it whole; 

It longs to part 

From every sordid bond — its stakes 

To pull up, as the Arabian forsakes 

His camping-place, and rove to search a soul. 



THE WIFE'S LAMENT. 97 

Soul with soul 

It longs to mix awhile, and lie 

Tranced in the love and sympathy, 

The perfect bliss of being understood — 

The spirit's goal ! 

Angels of Heaven ! say, oh why. 

Why do the powers this bliss deny, 

The greatest earthly — greatest heavenly good. 

Life! Oh life! 

Thoa art so very short — decay 

Steals every charm of youth away 

While yet the heart within is warm and young. 

The inward strife 

Acts on the outward form, and age 

Kolls up for us love's li\TJig page 

And dooms us loveless — loving hearts among. 

Love, Love! 

Thy sweets are only for the young; 

I feel that I have lived too long 

For thee to bless me with thy breathing warm 

My lips above; 

I know my head has not grown old, 

I know my heart has not grown cold. 

Yet fickle love prefers a youthful form. 



98 THE WIFE'S LAMENT. 

Death, Death ! 

Come quickly, take me iii thiiie arms, 

For thee, thee only, I have charms; 

Thou art the only lover that is true. 

Take thou my breath, 

Then shroud for aye from human sight 

This frame that once was love's delight, 

That it may rise again to beauty new. 



WP^f'g IN ^ C]REED? 




THOUGHT tliat I knew him, I knew him too 
well. 
For he was so good and so deeply religious 
In his own estimation — I deemed him a shell, 
And found him as empty as he was litigious; 
He'll be saved by his creed, 
If it doesn't mislead; 

For much to my sorrow, I know that the fact is, 
He certainly cannot be saved by his practice. 



WHAT'S IN A CREED. 9» 

I know that I'm wicked — I know it too well, 

For Avlien I was young I heard Protestant preachers 

The horrible fate of all doubters foretell, 

And they must be trusted, for they are our teachers; 

But he'll rise through his creed, 

If it doesn't mislead. 

To a heaven of happiness. Still the plain fact is, 

I'd rather be wrong in my creed than my practice. 

You say I am wrong in them both — that may be; 

Which is your creed of the holy five hundred? 

When you with the others contrive to agree, 

I'll consider my ways, and may see I have blundered. 

But I fear that your creed 

Might my spirit mislead — 

You can't all be right, so a fig for your factions, 

I think that a man is best known by his actions. 




nwB^ Mww^^- 



LOVE , tlioii dost evade me! 
With earnestness and truth 
I sought thee in my youth, 
But thou earnest not to aid me ! 

O Love, how I have sought thee, 
My heart, my strength, my soul. 
Myself entire and whole. 
Thou tyrant, I have brought thee. 

Yet have I never found thee, 
Thou lov'st me not, I know 
Thou lov'st to work my woe, 
Wrapp'st mystery around thee. 

Thou hid'st thyself to teaze me, 
Thou giv'st one little glance 
Of thy sweet countenance 
To plague me, not to please me. 




* AMOR TYRANNU8. 101 

Love, wilt never bless me, 
All my young life is gone, 
Old age is coming on. 
Haste, in thv arms caress me ! 



FROM THE SPANISH OF JORGE MANRIQUE. 

OPE not in her, trust her never, 

Lovers who in absence range, 

For forgetfulness and change, 

Present are in absence ever; 

He who wisheth Love's assurance. 

Let him strive his love to see, 

For if absent he should be. 

Short would be that love's endurance. 

He who doth in absence range. 

Loses all his soul ambitions, 

For forgetfulness and change 

Are of absence the conditions. 



JIP DII^JF@N'3 Y^IiEN^INE. 



&£ 




'i^ name is Jim Duttoii, 
And never I saw 
A cfirl worth a button 
Save Molly McGrath. 

Her month is so tiny, 
Her waist is so sma', 
Her eyes so sunshiny, 
Sweet Molly McGrath. 

A lovelier fairy 
My eyes never saw, 
Than my delicate, airy, 
Dear Mollv McGrath. 



Her figure how slender, 
How light her foot-fa' 
Her glances how tender, 
Fair Molly McGrath. 




JIM BUTTON'S VALENTINE. 103 

She's gentle, she's witty, 
She's winsome, she's braw, 
My lovable, pretty. 
Fond Molly McGratli. 

If ever you^seek a 
Girl fairer than a' 
The girls in Yreka, 
See Molly McGrath. 



par^^aiwg. 



OME would be rich, and in pursuit of wealth 

Ruin their health; 

Body, soul, spirit, ruthlessly are sold 
For cursed gold. 

They win it, yet possess it unenjoyed, 
Tired out with labor, with abundance cloyed. 



104 PURSUITS. 

Proud ill their country's cause to risk tLeir life, 
In hottest strife, 

Mid the loud clang of arms and corpses gory- 
Some seek for glory. 
To what avail? It satisfieth not. 
And ere their life-time closeth is forgot. 

Some mounting spiiits with a loftier aim 

Seek bloodless fame; 

On victories in the cause of Art or Science 

They place reliance. 

But fame is but an empty sound at best 

And fills no void within the yearning breast. 

Some seek for comfort in domestic bliss, 

But often miss; 

A happy home contains the highest measure 

Of earthly pleasure; 

But, sad to say, a pair of loving sj^ouses 

Is rare as angels' visits in our houses. 



WJim^' 30N6. 




,^-^N the placers old 
fA. Lie the sands of gold, 

Where the pliocene streams 

Of geologist's dreams 

Tore their way down the mountain side; 

The gravel they brought 

With treasure was fraught, 

In our cradles 'tis caught, 

And soon we will scatter it wide, my boys — 
And soon we will scatter it wide. 

To this solitude 
With our cradles rude. 
With the pick and the pan, 
Where civilized man 
Had never been mining before 
We wanderers came; 
The treasure we claim — 
'Tis legitimate game — 

We'll spend it and then get some more, my boys, 
We'll spend it and then get some more. 
8 



106 



MINERS' SONG. 



Our food may be clear, 
Our whiskey and beer 
May be far from the best; 
We may get little rest, 
We may dig in a watery ditch; 
Our clothes may be old. 
Our feet may be cold, 
But our pockets with gold 
Are bursting, and we shall be rich, my boys. 
Are burstino;, and we shall be rich. 





SONNET. 

HE primrose shone amid its tufts of gTeen, 
The daffodil upraised its head of gold, 
And underneath the hedge-row, half unseen, 
Rose the blue violet, scented as of old. 
The fruit trees their magnificence unrolled 
Of blushing blossoms; all the aii- was filled 
With fragrance, and from the well-watered mound 
Sprang early garden-growths — bat all was chilled; 
The season was turned back, the biting blast 
Blew from the stern northeast, clouds filled the sky. 
The lofty pine tree bent its mighty mast, 
Cold rain and snow came do^vn alternately, 
The blossoms fell, the flowerets faded fast, 
And winter reigned in gloomy majesty. 



w^ m n^BE. 



STOKE NEWINGTON PARK. 




fOW sweet 

2 Amid tlie bustle of the town to find 

[A calm retreat, 
Where leaves wave lightly in the summer wind, 
And all their moving shadows, to and fro, 
Dance on the quiet waters sjDread below. 
Like joyous thoughts uj^on a peaceful mind ! 

How swift 

The zephyrs blow amid the foliage green, 

From mead and croft 

Bearing sweet fragrance to tliis sylvan scene, 

Breathing the breath of country on the town, 

To bid its toilers lay their labor down. 

And rest mid influences more serene ! 

How fair 

The spreading chestnut groves in all their pride 

Bise in the air 



RUS IN URBE. 109 

Thick set with snowy blossoms side by side ! 
Dark flows the river through the shaded ground, 
Bright shines the sunlight upon all around; 
Here I can rest while time and river glide. 



©j^WTlRD. 




VER onward let us go, 
Kno^ving more than now we know, 
Doing more than now we do. 
Striving more than now we strive; 
Busy bees in earth's vast hive, 
Working and enjoying too. 

Ever onward with a will. 
He is lost who standeth still, 
Onward, onward! is the cry; 
Put your shoulders to the wheel, 
Firm as oak, and true as steel. 
Live like msn, and manful die. 



110 ONWAMB. 

Ever onward let us i^ress — 
Earth is still a wilderness, 
Here and there a favored spot; 
There are deserts to reclaim, 
There are savage tribes to tame, 
Put forth strength and falter not. 

Every man may do his mite; 
There are nations to unite, 
Prejudices to be slain; 
"Warring sects to bring to peace; 
Captive minds that need release- 
Let us haste to break the chain. 

There are poor who must be fed, 
Ignorant that must be led. 
Wretched souls that need a lift; 
Hardened hearts to gather in 
From the depths of vice and sin; 
Specious theories to sift; 

Superstition to o'erthrow, 
Tyranny to batter low. 
Dead obstruction to be moved,. 
False religions of the past 
Into limbo to be cast; 
New opinions to be proved. 



ONWAHD. Ill 

Onward ! onward ! to the goal 

Let each man his name enroll 

In the army of advance; 

Let each woman take her place, 

O'er her charms Truth's armor brace, 

And with Error break a lance. 

March like soldiers to the field — 
Blazon ''Progress " on your shield; 
Cast your banners on the wind; 
Be your motto, " Onward still," 
Take for sAvord " United Will," 
Wielded by the force of mind. 

Then the armies of decay 
At your onset shall give way, 
Ajid our race shall move ahead. 
New ideas shall be evolved, 
Old enigmas shall be solved. 
Truth and virtue wide be spread. 

Then the nations, hand in hand. 
Will each other understand. 
And true brotherhood have birth; 
Then the deserts shall be tilled. 
And the barren places filled 
Witli the Avorkers of the earth. 



112 ONWARD. 

Labor, study, toil, and strife. 

Are the elements of life; 

Let us all increase the store; 

Wings of steam and tongues of flame, 

Swift can waft a well-earned fame 

To the ocean's farthest shore. 



N^TOi^E jaagiNsg, 




LOVE on some lone peak to stand 
And view the landscape stretched below, 
Mountain and hill and meadow land. 
Where silver streams meandering flow ! 
I love to sit upon the beach, 
And on that wondrous ocean gaze, 
Whose white-capped wastes of waters reach 
Beyond the far horizon's haze. 



NATURE MUSINGS. 113 

But most of all I love to lie 
Beside a streamlet in a glen, 
Where arching trees shut out the sky, 
Though here and there and now and then, 
The whisperings of the summer breeze 
That blows aside the foliage green, 
With music like the far-off seas. 
Lets glints of sunlight in between. 

The quiet pool, so dark, so deep, 
Where dwells the hungry speckled trout; 
And the cool waters go to sleep, 
Pillowed with mosses round about; 
The shallows, where the ripples dance 
The shining, polished pebbles over, 
And tiny fishes swiftly glance 
After some luckless insect rover. 

The rushing rapid — headlong dash 
Into the whirling pool below. 
While overhead bright sparkles flash, 
And mimic rainbows come and go; 
And underneath the waters boil, 
Pent up, but raging to depart 
With ceaseless hurry and turmoil — 
Fit symbol of the human heart. 



114 NATURE MUSINGS. 

All these I love, and love to dream, 
Seated upon a flower-strewn bank, 
My feet within the cooling stream 
Of Nature's beauties. Rank on rank, 
In swift succession in they pour. 
And fill the chambers of the mind; 
And when I thus have dreamt an hour, 
My waking eyes new beauties find. 

New beauties ! Tree and flower and leaf,. 
Lichen and moss and feathery brake, 
Have beauties that surpass belief. 
To those who pleasure in them take: 
Bird, beetle, flower, and butterfly 
Are girded round with beauty's zone. 
While some with bright tints please the eye^ 
And some the ear with varied tone. 

With whizzing wing the humming bird 
Flies viewless on from flower to flower; 
The pigeon's pensive note is heard. 
The quail cries from his woodland bower, 
The snow-bird twitters from a spray 
Of syringa or meadow-sweet. 
And e'en the jangling of the jay 
Is musical in this retreat. 



^FPE ^E^It MB JFKE IDE^k 




FOE, the power to represent 
The aspii'ations, hidden strife, 
And mysteries of man's inner life, 
And to exjDOund theii- full intent. 

O for the true Promethean fire. 
Brought from the realms above the sky. 
To elevate and purify 
Each cherished hope, each fond desire. 

O for a mental force to dare 
Whate'er by mortal may be dared, 
Yet heedfully to stand prepared 
To toil, to suffer, and to bear. 

Hopes longed for yet unrealized. 
Why crowd ye thus upon my brain, 
And turn realities to pain, 
That otherwise were highly prized; 

Must present joys be ever lost 
In that huge greediness for more. 
Which pants for still increasing lore. 
At any toil, at any cost? 



116 THE REAL AND THE IDEAL. 

Ought dreamy promptings undefined, 
That tantalize and ne'er refresh, 
To hold within their silken mesh 
The fervor of th' embodied mind? 

Should they not rather be restrained 

Within subordination due, 

And never given heed unto 

Till earnest toil hath leisure gained? 

When life's realities are stern. 
And brain can scarcely purchase bread. 
The effort of each thinking head 
Should be to practise, not to learn. 

Hard work in a restricted sphere 
Of duties homely, every day. 
Is man's appointed narrow way. 
And gentle woman's mission here. 

Poetic fancies, the ideal. 
The scientific — love of art, 
Deep buried in the thinker's heart, 
Should be subjected to the real. 

Yet in the higher life within. 
Thought rises o'er surroundings low. 
Our souls to higher stature grow. 
E'en while we toil our bread to win. 



n BnY-mwji- 




N a high hill a fairy palace stood, 
^^ Built on a solid base, whence slender shafts 
Sprang aiiily, enclosing windows tall 
With clearest crystal glazed; vast domes arose 
And lofty towers, above the general mass 
Of the arcaded structure; tier on tier 
Of terraced gardens giit that palace round 
With a bright show of gaily-tinted flowers. 
Round ever-flowing fountains thickly set. 
Broad flights of steps up to that palace led, 
And many a hundred noiseless folding doors 
Gave access to its vast interior. 
Methought I entered, and mine eyes beheld 
A Paradise of Art, embosomed in 
An Eden land of Nature, redolent 
With fragrance overpoweringly sweet, 
And warmed by perfect means invisible 
Unto the climate of a tropic land. 
There the banana and the plantain grew, 
The palm tree flourished, and the fruitful vine 



118 A DAY-DREAM. 

Bore plenteously, as on Ausonian strand. 

There were the banian and the baobab, 

The cocoa-nut and cactus, the sweet cane, 

The orange and the citron and the fig. 

Gay-phimaged birds in freedom flew about. 

Parrots and trogons, sun-birds and toucans, 

And tiny humming-birds of dazzling hues. 

There roamed the spring-bok and the swift gazelle, 

The silk-clothed goat from the Cashmerian vale 

And every kind of harmless quadruped. 

In iron-barred cages birds and beasts of j)i"ey 

Were j^resent too; the bars by trailing lengths 

Of flowering creepers artfully concealed. 

So that t^e prisoned habitants seemed free 

As once their ancestors. The lion here, 

Last relic of his race, upreared his head 

Majestic, and the tiger and the bear, 

No longer known in India or the West, 

In base captivity kept ujd their race. 

The last of all the giant pachyderms 

Rhinoceros and hippopotamus 

And elephant roved free and meekly tame. 

There shady pathways, set with cushioned seats. 

Twined 'mid the flowers, and circled round calm pools 

Filled with strange fishes, and with lilies decked. 

Amid these wonders as I wandered on, 



A DAY-DREAM. 119 

I came unto a central avenue, 

Graced with a tliousand forms of loveliness 

Statued in marble, and, as on a group 

I gazed, I heard a laugh, and turning saw 

A bevy of fair maidens. They were dressed 

In classic costume, white and flowing robes 

Looped o'er theii* shoulders, girdled round their waists, 

And gathered up to give their feet full play. 

Their girdles were of golden filagree, 

Studded Avith diamonds and emeralds, 

The buttons on their shoulders were of pearl. 

Bracelets of orient rubies set in gold 

Sparkled upon their wrists, their glossy haii* 

Was fastened in a comely knot behind, 

Or fell in loosely flowing ringlets down 

Over their shoulders, like a flood of gold. 

Their arms were bare and beautiful, theii* forms 

Lovely to look upon, theii' features fair 

Beyond comparison. The maidens stood 

Smiling and glancing slyly, till I said : 

" Why smile ye so, fair ladies, is there ought 

" About me that appears ridiculous 

'' To denizens of these Elysian fields'? " 

Then one, all golden-locked and azure-eyed. 

In silvery tones replied, " I fear you think 

" Us rude to smile, yet smile we not at thee, 



120 A DAY-DREAM. 

" But at thy dress, so like our ancestors, 

" Like some old photograph endued with life, 

" Thou wear'st that high-crowned, heavy-looking hat, 

" Once known as stove-pipe, chimney-pot, and plug, 

" And art invested with that queer long-tailed 

" And frontless vestment, once yclept 'frock-coat.' 

'' Look at those gentlemen now passing by, 

'' And thou wilt see why thus we laugh at tliee." 

I looked and saw, in broad-brimmed plumy hats. 

And tunics belted loosely round their waists, 

A party of young men, who stood and looked 

As wonderingly on me as I on them. 

Then sjDoke my fairy with the azure eyes, 

'^ Surely, dear sir, you must have fallen asleep 

" Like Rip Van Winkle, and awaked to life 

" In the next century. But come with us 

" And we will show you many wondrous things, 

" And talk of the changed fashions of our time. 

"Full many a knotty problem has been solved, 

" And many a vexed question set at rest, 

" Since those queer, ancient clothes of yours were made; 

'' I will not say since you, dear sir, were young, 

'' For nought looks old about you save your dress." 

At this I bowed, well pleased that it was so. 

And sweetly smiling the fair girl went on. 

" On rail-laid roads we speed o'er mount and vale 



A DAY-DHEAM. 121 

"A hundred miles an hour; we ferry o'er 
'' The Atlantic in a day; we leave the shores 
'' Of far Japan at eve, and ere the earth 
" Hath made a revolution and a half, 
'' We dine at Honolulu, and next day 
" We sup at San Francisco. All of us 
" Have circled round the world.. It is a trip. 
" That children take to learn geography. 
" The electric light has superseded gas, 
*' The electric motor takes the place of steam 
"In many ways; we utilize the force 
" Of waves and waterfalls to move our mills; 
" We store our rain-fall for our summer use, 
" And for the irrigation of oar fields. 
"We have learned Nature's ways, to bring forth life 
"From waste, decay, and death; our dead supply, 
'' Returned into the soil, the food of life, 
'' And all life's products are to riches turned. 
" We know the constitution of the sun, 
'' And are familiar now with Saturn's rings 
*' As with our moon; the notions that held sway 
" Over men's minds and kept them from the truth, 
*' Are now exploded — that vast cloud of fog, 
*' Black with intolerance and red with blood, 
** Which blind men called religion, and believed 
*' To be the revelation of a God 
9 



122 A DAY-DREAM. 

" Whom they had made the image of themselves, 

'' Has rolled away forever from the world. 

'' The rocks have yielded all their record up, 

"And all the lessons of life-history 

^' Are read of all men. Happiness is what 

" We strive for, and we gain a goodly share; 

"Rights are respected, force and fraud alike 

" Meet with prompt measures, for the murderer 

" Is cut off from the body politic, 

" And scoundrels are compelled to toil and give 

" The proceeds of their work to feed the j:>oor." 

Then spake I, in amaze with much delight 

That thus my dreams of youth were realized, 

" These are great gains, fair maiden, tell me more, 

" For much I love to talk on themes like these." 

" Have you a card? — How may we know your name? 

Queried the gold-haired goddess as she looked 

From me to her companions, and again 

In half-affected coyness upon me. 

*' Call me Don Juan Pasado, I replied, 

'' For, like the times I lived in, I have died 

"And j^assed away into another state." 

" Welcome, Don Juan Pasado, I present 

"You to my friends; this one is Beatrice, 

" This Eve, and this Octavia, and I 

*' Am Helen, we are sisters, and our name 



A DAY-DREAM. 123 

'^ Cuordamore. Enter this bower with us, 

•'* And over dinner we'll induct you in 

"The mysteries of happy modern life." 

Into an elegant Moresque kiosk, 

Flagrant with scented waters falling fast 

From sculptured fountain, bright with rainbow hues, 

And full of dreamy floating harmonies, 

We entered as she spoke, and there sat down. 

A whisper at the telej)hone, and up 

Rose through the floor a table richly set. 

With costly plate jailed up with costly fare. 

Helen presided, and at her right hand 

I sat and listened, while sight, taste, and smell 

Were all employed together. Thus she spoke, 

" As I sit here I can at will converse 

" With friends in China or in Africa, 

" For now the electric wires, concealed from sight, 

" Are laid to every house, to every room, 

" And we can send a wish across the world 

" Without the need of paper, pen, and ink, 

'' Or intervention of a messenger. 

" This vast museum pleasure-house, in which 

** This gay kiosk is placed, is a hotel 

'* Where thousands live, and there are many such 

*' In our grand city. Dining-halls, salons, 

'^ Ball-rooms and theaters, schools and libraries. 



124 A DAY-DREAM. 

" Art-galleries and sliops, and every need 

^' And luxury of life, are here contained. 

" The streets outside are gardens; noise of wheels 

" Is never heard, the cars run smoothly on, 

*' No clang of bell, nor shriek of whistle jars 

^' The student's nerves, or wakes the sleeper up. 

" The streets are safe at midnight as at morn, 

" And none wear weapons. Escorts are no more 

*' Required by timid maids, nor need we fear 

" The dust or mud that kept, in your past day, 

" Our sex in misery when skirts were long." 

Then said I, " May I ask, without offense, 

" Are the relations of your sex and mine 

" Altered in aught 1 Is speech more free] 

*' Is confidence m,ore full] Are women taught 

" The mysteries and the duties of their sex] 

" Are they more women than they used to be] 

" Or have they, seeking so-called Woman's Rights 

*' Become half man] Oh, pardon me, I pray, 

*'For you at least, are sweetly feminine." 

^' You have a right to ask," then answered Eve, 

A full-blown beauty whose fair form defied 

All criticism, " in the present age 

^'No subject is tabooed; the book of life 

" Is that of nature. Free to study all, 

" Freely we mix and freely talk with men 



A DAY-DBEAM. 125 

*' On all things that relate to human life; 
'' Once more the sexes, in your age disjoined, 
^' Are joined in friendship, rivals now no more. 
^' Each aids the other, supplementing with 
^'Body and mind alike the other's needs." 
*' Your words have doubtful meaning," I replied, 
*^ Am I to understand the sexes mix 
*' Promiscuously, and that the marriage- vow 
^' Is now no more regarded] " " No," cried she, 
*^ Your eyes need opening. Girls no longer sell 
*^ Themselves for wealth, convenience, or rank, 
*' But mate for love, true love no longer blind. 
*' Man i age is now no mad and venturous leap, 
*' Taken in haste by two who know no more 
*' Of one another's temper, tastes, defects, 
" Than can be learned in studied interviews 
" When both are hypocrites intent to please. 
*' Tempers may differ, but that married life 
*' May be a life of love, the tastes of each 
*' Must be alike, and every mental trait, 
*' The power of every sense, and every charm 
'' Or fault of body, every curve of limb, 
-" Development of muscle, attribute 
" Of sex, must be in fulness known, 
•*'Ere the life contract has been signed and sealed." 
^ 'Tis well, said I, " but how can such things be?" 



126 A DAY-DREAM. 

'' Great changes must come slowly, and it took 

" Three generations to accomj^lish this, 

'^ Since in your day, Don Juan, the seed was sown. 

" The rights of others and the claims of self 

'' Are taught to all from earliest infancy, 

" As the mind grows adapted to receive. 

" Our youth are taught the duties of their sex, 

" And proud of its nobility no more 

** Hide their fair structure under loads of clothes, 

''Nor clothe their thoughts in structures of half-lies. 

'* Thus form, and taste, and temper, all are known 

" During the year of strict betrothal, which 

" Differs from marriage only in the fact 

'' That both at its conclusion are as free 

" To part as though they ne'er had been betrothed. 

" The marriage-vow, in your days so abused, 

" Is a strict contract, good for life, yet void 

*' Like other contracts, if by man or wife 

" 'Tis disregarded. Both are bound to do 

" Their utmost to support the family; 

"Neither may enter into business 

" Or pui chase property without the leave 

" Of the life partner. Equal, side by side, 

'' They share life's burdens. Hers the noble task 

'' To bring forth children and to rear them up, 

*' His to earn food and shelter for them all. 



A DAY-DBEAM. 127 

*' All women learn a trade, and practise it 

" Till they are married, after too, if it 

" Is necessary, or no children need 

" Their motherly care. Divorce is very rare, 

" Because our youth, no longer taught to look 

" For happiness in mythic future worlds, 

'' But to conduct themselves aright in this, 

'' Look Well before they leap." At this I spoke 

'' Well do I love to find my race advanced, 

" To iind more pe^-ce, more harmony, more love, 

'' Than in my time, but, learned ladies, say, 

" Do nations battle as they used to do? " 

Then Helen, playful tapping on my arm, 

'' No ' learned ladies ' we. Blue-stockinsfs now, 

" Like mammoths, are extinct, we cook and sew 

" When need requii-es, as well as paint and play." 

" Cook, do yon cook"?" said I, ''I little thought 

'' Such hands as yours were to a kitchen used." 

" Kitchens are different now from what they were," 

Replied fair Helen, " grease, and smoke, and dii't, 

'' And washing dishes, all are done with now. 

" Our kitchens have no speck of dii't or dust, 

" And cookery is an art." '' To judge by what 

" I taste this evening, I should judge the art 

" Carried to high perfection," I replied, 

" But much I wonder if the ai-t of war 



128 A DAY-DEEAM. 

''Has waned or reached its climax." Beatrice 

Answered to tliis, " The art of war has fallen 

" Through sheer perfection. Nations dare not fight, 

" For each possesses engines that could sweep 

" An army to destruction. Questions great 

" Twixt rival states are settled by the safe 

" Arbitrement of congresses, yet still 

'' The fight for life goes on, the peaceful strife 

" More fatal than the thunder of a war, 

" For food, for wealth, and for supremacy." 

She ceased, and soon we left the gay kiosk; 

Onward they led me, those enchanting gii'ls, 

Through wonders heaped on wonders, far above 

Our heads vast vaults transparent rose aloft, 

Beneath our feet mosaic pavements gleamed, 

And all around bright flowers and gem-winged birds 

Blossomed and flew, while unseen warblers sang. 

" This is indeed the home of art," I cried, 

" And the abode of Beauty." " Thou hast seen 

''As yet but little of it," Helen said, 

"This is a vast museum, where the world 

" Is reproduced in little ; science, art 

"And nature are in fullness here displayed." 

Then they conveyed me to where copies true 

Of many a mighty j)ile of architecture, 

World-famed, arose, restored as when fii'st built. 



A DAY-DREAM. 129 

Kariiac's grand temple witli its columned liall, 

Luxor, and Denderali, and Ipsambul, 

Xerxes' Persepolitan palace pile, 

The Parthenon and all the Acropolis. 

There stood Rome's baths and her basilicas, 

Her aqueducts and proud Jiriumphal arcs; 

The lofty buttressed walls and columned aisles 

Of the cathedrals of the middle age; 

The mosques and tombs of Saracen and Moor, 

Chinese pagodas, Buddhist-temple caves 

And Aztec palaces; and not far off 

Examples from the nineteenth century, 

Its mixtures, follies, eccentricities, 

Blind classicalities and gothic copies. 

Some were full-size, the larger on a scale 

Of half or third. Yet this long series filled 

Only a small part of the vast hotel, 

"Whose galleries and courts were built to hold 

Full iifty thousand families. Noiseless ran 

A thousand elevators night and day, 

Bearing the tide of people up and down. 

And noiseless ran an endless train of cars, 

Bearing the crowds of people to and fro. 

We took the cars, and left them where a space 

Was set with models of machinery 

And engineering works, and ships, and tall 

10 



130 A DAY-DREAM. 

Erections arcliitectural, that outstripped 
Any the ancients raised. One model showed 
The city of the fifty large hotels 
And garden streets, the city of the West, 
Throned on the hills by the Pacific sea. 
There London, built anew, was modeled large 
(A city of ten million souls). The streets 
Tree-planted, three times sixty feet in width, 
Bordered with flowing streams, while underneath 
Kun all the heavy traffic and the trains. 
Eight stories high the houses towered aloft, 
Enclosing garden-courts," fireproof they were, 
Flat-roofed, the roofs all gay with choicest flowers; 
The river rolled alone: 'twixt granite banks 
For thirty miles or more; and in the east 
The spacious quays were backed by mighty piles 
Of warehouses that made St. Paul's look small. 
A hundred bridges spanned the crystal tide. 
But here we stayed not long, she led me on 
Through miles on miles of gallery picture-hung 
And groves of statuary; through bazaars 
Crowded with all that skill and wealth conjoined 
Can make of beautiful. Then came the sound 
Of organ-notes, a mighty peal that thrilled 
The soul with sweetness — as it died away 
Pillar and arch and gallery and vault 



A DAY-DREAM. 131 

Sprang out into a blaze of golden light. 
Then sat we down, and others of my sex 
Joined in our conversation. 'Twas in sooth 
A ha}3py evening. But the time wore on, 
Methought I loved the Helen of my dream, 
And that she smiled upon me with those eyes 
Of deepest blue — methought her golden hair 
Flowed over me as we exchanged a kiss; 
Methought those arms of perfect mold were thrown 
Around my neck, and I was gently drawn 
Close to her bosom — but the organ pealed 
Aofain and I awoke. It was a dream. 




